Brian Tate

To Love is to Always Learn

For decades, I thought I was going to school to learn how to teach; in reality, I have been going to school to learn how to learn. I’ve learned that it is futile to learn to teach unless I have a strong love for learning myself and have an effective means of sharing that love with students. This love of learning, I believe, is what makes a teacher and drives them to continually seek better, more effective methods of teaching. For millennia, teachers have been developing effective learning methods pioneered by philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Unfortunately, these men never achieved unanimity. Instead, they laid the foundation for a philosophy of education debate that continues today. Part of the problem with trying to reach a conclusion for how to effectively teach lies within the diversity of learning styles in students. In addition, not all teachers have the same gifts for teaching. This is why I believe that it is important for every teacher to discover an education philosophy that works with his or her unique teaching style. This philosophy will guide them throughout their teaching career and will define them when they step into their teaching role. Through experimenting with many different teaching methods, I’ve created my own philosophy that encompasses elements of progressivism and constructivism.
The first theory of education, progressivism, has played a key role in my education growing up and has been one of the strongest influences in shaping who I am today. For as long as I can remember, I have loved asking questions. As my constant stream of questions became so inextricably intertwined with the way that I learn, a simple answer or explanation from someone else was rarely sufficient enough. I needed to see, feel and experience anything and everything for myself as a way of discovering answers