When I am sitting down to develop a course outline or lecture, I first think about my students. What information do they already have; what are their interests, and how will they use this information in the future? Asking these questions of the students themselves and presenting a few of my own perceptions at the beginning of the class begins to clear the way for the students to find a place in their memory for the concepts and material they will gain from the course.

At this point in my career, my philosophy of teaching is based more upon my experience as a student than as a teacher. Perhaps my greatest struggle as a student has been to find a context for the material I am currently learning. I need to know where this new material fits in relation to knowledge I already have and in relation to my own values and goals. Making this connection allows me to more readily retrieve this new found knowledge when I need it to solve a problem or to make more connections. I think of it as building a road map between places I have been and places I am going. My job as a teacher is to help the students to see where they are at the beginning of this trip, see where it is leading them, and point out the important landmarks along the way.

My first goal in a class is to present the big picture, to help the students to see where this information I am presenting could take them. I would like each student to say, "Hey, I really want to know about this new technology, because it will give me an edge in the job market.", or to say "This class will help me to understand why plants are so important.", or "This could be really important information about my own health." Obtaining a clear view of what lies ahead is necessary for establishing both long term goals (where we are at the beginning and where we will be at the end of the course) and short term goals (where we will be at the beginning of a class period and where we will be at the end of the class period). Establishing clear objectives in the beginning of a class or course provides the student and the teacher space to explore without losing direction.

The introduction at the beginning of a class simply serves as an explanation of my expectations but is not meant to restrict or to limit the creative applications made by the students. Once students have seen the end, it is much easier to reinforce the concepts with specifics: the facts, the terminology, the descriptors and the smaller steps which led to the major concepts they are learning. When material is learned in this way it is far easier for students to process the concept by connecting to what is already known and to learn the specifics by applying them to the concept.

No matter what teaching methods are used to convey this information to the students, my ultimate goal (when I think true learning is taking place) is for the students to rise above the material and see for themselves where the journey began and where they ended up. In this way they can for themselves develop learning skills that can be used outside of my classroom. Using these strategies will help the students to not only learn the information at a higher level, which makes my job more satisfying, it will also make learning fun for the students too. The most exciting moments in learning occur when a student can step out of a learning situation and examine the material in a context outside of the walls of the classroom, make connections between the course material and other courses, between their own life experiences or their career interests. To help students achieve these connections is my goal as a teacher.