Doctorious! — Adventures in Education with Adjunct Professor Matthew Gilbert

After several months of research and revision, I have finally drafted the first version of my teaching philosophy. It reflects my thoughts on what it means to be a teacher and how I go about engaging my students in the classroom. I have included it below and also added as a new stand-alone page to my blog. As always, your thoughts and comments are encouraged! 

Guided by the motto “learn continuously, live generatively,” I am eternally engaged in a process of investigation, discovery and application – as both an educator and a lifelong learner. This duality is fundamental to my belief that being a teacher is merely a different word for being a student. Echoing this philosophy is Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard who explains “to be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. I am not a teacher, only a fellow student.”

Knowing this, I strive to create learning environments that embody the ideals of collective individualism: a knowledge management process that leverages the contributions of independent, but interconnected participants to generate answers to a question of common interest. I don’t instruct my students from afar, I actively engage and learn with my students. Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Professor Mark Van Doren reflected this idea when he commented “the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”

My goal as a teacher is to initiate “generative learning,” which management professor Peter Senge defines in The Fifth Discipline as “learning that enhances our capacity to create,” (p. 14). Generative learning is the process of integrating your existing knowledge with new information about a subject. The result is a deeper, more personal, and ultimately more meaningful understanding of that subject. In short, generative learning is about owning information by engaging it and making it uniquely your own knowledge.

With this in mind, I see myself as a partner with my students who facilitates their learning process as they actively explore an area of interest through hands-on exercises.  I listen to my students and act accordingly. In Leadership is an Art Max DePree, chairman of furniture company Herman Miller, argues “the leader listens to the ideas, needs, aspirations, and wishes of the followers and then…responds to these in appropriate fashion,” (p. xxi).  I have two ears and one mouth for a reason!

With a youthful enthusiasm (and a dry sense of humor) I inspire my students while engaging my maturity to keep them focused. Acting as a “guide on the side” and not a “sage on the stage,” I am first and foremost about my students. Embracing Goleman’s concept of “emotional intelligence,” I remain responsive to their unique needs. Having taught students of various ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds I am sensitive to issues of diversity and the need to adapt my style to my students — not the other way around.

I am committed to making my students’ educational experience as practical and, hopefully, transformational, as possible. I connect theory with reality while encouraging them to relate their own experiences and life stories to ideas discussed in class. Notably, Max DePree also emphasizes, “Stories help us learn and remember who we are, where we have been, where we are going. Stories preserve our sense of community,” (p. 1). Sometimes stories, however divergent, can ultimately lead the class to a better understanding of the specific subject matter!

I am primarily drawn to the study and teaching business because it offers an invigorating intersection of people, technology and commerce – a hub of humanity. I approach business from the human side of the equation because I feel that is where its essence exists. It offers a tangible environment in which students and teachers alike can apply their knowledge and witness an immediate result — however anecdotal. It provides a microcosm of the larger setting and elevates everything to a level of educational inquiry and academic achievement.

Teaching is as rewarding as it is challenging – but no other professional experience has allowed me to help shape the future of my students while simultaneously giving my life greater meaning and purpose.