Personal Statement Paul Ingram Back to opening page
My philosophy of education centers around two words; respect and motivation. I believe strongly that all people want to be treated with respect at all times. The classroom teacher must model respect for his students in all circumstances. I believe sharing my enthusiasm for learning allows me to motivate and challenge each student in an appropriate way. My classrooms are places where the students are respected and motivated and know that they are cherished and cared for. I believe strongly that success builds success and I ensure that each student is successful in some way. Finally, I work very hard to ensure that my classes are fun.
Small doses of appropriate humour can go a long way to creating a joyful, creative classroom.
I use a wide variety of teaching methods to meet individual and group needs. I use teacher directed teaching where needed but I am most proud of my use of : a) cooperative learning, b) portfolios, c) project based learning and d) student self assessment. No matter what method I am using I work hard to involve students in each step of the process. After a lengthy advanced cooperative unit on Egypt, students develop their own test (which includes 4 different cognitive levels!) When the Geography students did semester projects on Europe they wrote out their own objectives, methodology and assessment criteria! When the Literature students are working on writing portfolios they can choose the option they think will best allow them to excel in that particular genre. All of these processes of 'student control' come gradually over the year and bit by bit the students learn to gain the control over their learning they will need to be life long learners.
I continue to grow and learn as a life long learner myself. In the past few years I have attended conferences on effective discipline, long term planning, Trimodal approach, Learning Styles and many others. I am part of a small world wide exchange group on advanced cooperative learning. I am also a contributing member of Middle-L which is a world wide list server (over the Internet) of educational issues and research.
I have always believed that extra curricular activities are important for the student, teacher, and the entire school. I have a long history with Boy Scouts and coaching of B Level Volleyball, Floor hockey and Field events. I also make it a point to plan outside activities with my classes. Bowling, hiking, museums, and special dinners are some of the special activities I have organized.
In my career as an educator I have been a counselor, teacher, assistant principal, head of the high school and head of the middle school. In all of these positions I have always found that students want to be treated as complete human beings. The challenge as an educator is not just to see a literature student, but to see somebody's daughter or friend, a lover of music, an adolescent and all of the other characters that might be within that whole person!