Statement of Teaching Philosophy Template

Based upon (Chism, 1998), “Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement,”

See for additional guidance:  http://ucat.osu.edu/read/teaching-portfolio/philosophy/guidance   

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Start of a School Database

T. “TR” Robert Welling


1. Conceptualization of learning

To me learning is an individual concept. Each person learns differently. Consequently, the Roman aspect of how to perform a what has become known by UOP alum as a Daily Question (DQ) and a paper, the ideas have not changed that much since 300 bce. The technology has changed but the format is almost identical.

My way of teaching lends themselves more to having a think tank, being a teacher, founding a school focused around the concept of creating an interactive database.

Each person needs to learn in the way that is best for them. It also appears that students and humans advanced better and clearer if they can learn at their own pace. For those that need a harder line of structure provide that. but for the independent students, give them the list of tasks and the database to fill in and sit back to find out what they can do. Of course, backed up by the teachers own database and textbooks.

Learning cannot be defined openly; it has to be defined per individual. Each individual learns the way they learn. Trying to define the shape of water is like defining how each person learns. Water is mostly shaped by the forces of either gravity and or molecular physics; push push, pull pull, neutral. In assumed zero G water takes on the form of a ball, of sorts.

The best way to show the physical evidence for how a student is learning, follow the path and progress of the database they build. The database would be in a form of a website, where each major subject is its own page.

www.you.org and or www.welling.org/eachstudent.htm.

on the index page; have the master list of subjects.

Psychology; then the assigned classes. There are about 20 to 60 sub classifications and specifications within the realm of the field of Psychology. Have each one by default listed. Of course, for other subjects, math's, philosophy, etc. same template applies.

Have each major, minor, and sub minor fields a link and associated page set by default. Build it like Wikipedia but instead of having a review board del most of the “Edit” posts. Each student fills their own answers in; of course, with associated columns for fellow students. left column for the school, middle for your own work/your database, right column for the class/group activities. Slowly fill in the details and data of each subject. Learn at your own pace. But with given specific parameters no less than x words in z given time frames, and y given larger projects. For the purpose of creating a larger context. Allow the students to see how any one given point they write about has impact to and from other concepts.  

With links to both peer reviewed sources and how x idea is correct when it comes to y idea but has no validity when it comes to z ideas. Z ideas have validity with x and a ideas, but b is vague at best. Have the student fill in their own mini DSM, have the student fill in their own dictionary and encyclopedia of learning. Tracking and tracing the paths and learning through this data base structure allows for a complete and comprehensive assessment of the ideas and concepts the student is learning.

Say fill in at least 50 to 100 words a day for 5 days then 100-2000 words into paper format into the database, or 3000 words over the course of a week. That way the database is built, but the student also learns how to properly create a to eventually publish format.

In a very real effect that database will take on the appearance of a neuropathway, most computers are made with copper and gold wiring electronic as opposed to bio-neuro electronic. Same electricity is flowing through each substance, be that copper/gold and or a DNA cell based biological nerve.  

How does learning work, learning works based on when information is presented to the student, the students mind expands with the information the student then makes notes, small essays, papers, and fills in their overall database. What do we mean by learning, we mean that before a student is introduced to x concept they perceived things in y way, after they perceive their world in z way.

Over the course of more than a decade from community college 101 to current level in gradschool, many students write about subjects which have direct impact on other topics. For this student the amount of history written about while I write about any given psychological subject, I am back filling in historiography psychology subjects. Having the program be able to identify and copy that post or at least that section of the post into the history section would be a great thing. Having other students be able to see what that subject is in the other context could lead to some rather interesting research ideas.

This same model was and is used in several major scientific projects. Manhattin, Imitation Game, etc. Where the people involved could perform mental gymnastics and do the above in their heads. But they then had to spend vast amounts of time explanig what they were talking about. This interactive database helps the scholars invlvled fill in the gaps which can and will lead to greater and greater explanations for some psychological concepts. Instead of all that work being lost the second the class is in effect deleted from the schools database, that information is kept and progress with the next class can be taken up.

It would also solve the problem of, in some classes, every student has to come in and reprove they can write in specific APA formatting. In this way, the teachers can observe the already constructed database and progress with a larger understanding of where each student is, and where that student can go. Instead of starting every class from zero. A much much more effective and efficient way to teach and learn.

 


2. Conceptualization of teaching

What do we mean by teaching

To teach

The concept of teaching has been ill defined in dozens and dozens of languages throughout time. The methods are enumerable of how to teach, what to teach, and what does teaching mean. Not because the teacher is not good at their job, but because the students learn different from each other. Sometimes you have a chance encounter where the student and teacher’s styles sync nicely and the amount of information the teacher can impart and the amount the student can learn are in at least semi-sync. However, this is an incredibly rare event.

Mostly the dynamic is the teacher uses the Prussian structured method and the students have to figure out how to comport themselves to said structure. They convert their way of information processing to the way the teacher and the administration demand to have the information relayed. But the Prussian system is not a way of teaching, it is a way of imparting information which only an unmeasurable percentage of humans can absorb information that way. There is no real way to measure who can and cannot learn that way. True teaching is to figure out which way is best for each individual student. Then provide that way, so the student can expand their thinking. The Prussian format is not about expansion but about structure, monkey see, monkey do. Not about understanding what the see and do actually is.

How do I facilitate this process as a teacher

As a teacher it is important to understand the audience that is being instructed. What level of teaching is being presented. Is the classroom undergrad, masters grad school, or is the classroom upper end PhD preparation. Entirely different teaching strategies for each level of training.

Also referring back to my proposed idea of a universal database for academics from around the world to participate; the technology exists to have an automatic translation built in. So that students from around the world can in very strict parameters participate with each other. So that the format can also be customizable for those with several masters and or phd’s can create ideas and projects in the database. With other parameters in place, for safety and security, have everyone from pre-school up to decades long professionals in the field adding their information to the mix.

What this can do is to allow the students to write what they think about any one given topic and see how their thinking (cognition)/(neuropathways) change over time. Tracing the mapping of the mind through the written words they write.

If the student learns best by writing x number of words a day, on the weekends or equivalent write a various length paper APA formatted. Depending entirely on how the student learns that is how to reach them and facilitate their learning the best way possible. Encouragement, positive feedback and constructive criticism will assist in facilitating learning. Constructive criticism is entirely different from personal attack criticism. Although personal tear down is fun to perform, only a small percentage of students respond to that type of degradation. Some students thrive in being told they are useless piles of junk to fight against those nasty comments to prove them wrong. Some students are crushed by it. Some teachers can only teach by formulating their attitudes of teaching by crushing their students to see how rises from the ashes. The database will allow for a much easier transition to align students needs with the proper teaching techniques.

One of the most frustrating parts of being a student is the pace at which each student is allowed to progress. Some students need all kinds of time, other students need far less. Some students have jobs and can only spend so much of their time studying, other students have other issues. Same goes for teachers, some teachers are offended by oddities in their classrooms. A database can fix a lot of those problems. It can also create and enhance other problems we know about and also do not know about.


3. Goals for students

To teach, to impart wisdom, to present a different aspect and concept of the world from which the student was aware previous to the start of this class.

Start with taking very real modern concepts and in a very short form introduce that just because you think x is x does not actually make it a reality. For example; the modern concept of Satan/Lucifer/the Devil/etc. times dozens of dozens of names is a post 50 ce concept. Dark entities existed previous of course but not in that specific format. Where did that format come from, that is easy to show how x is actually y. The ancient Egyptian monotheistic deity of the ATEN is literally where the concept of the devil came from. The ATEN is one of the most misunderstood concepts in all of human history.

Now in my class, I would instruct my students to take that intensely small paragraph simply packed with 1000s and 1000s of subjects and to begin to break those subjects down. Each point of the list; write one sentence, maybe a couple sentences, if they want to write more that is fine. Description of each point.

Talking points; what language, what time did a definition become b definition, etc. c, d, e. Take a sentence or a paragraph and create the noun’s from that sentence. Then take that those noun’s and expand them to what noun’s they are connected to. For example.

Dante’s Inferno, the Trojan War, Janus, etc.

Have the students fill in a data base of information about those topics. Specifically, how they relate directly to the field of psychology. The first answer is extremely simple, the concept of the Trojan War is where the Classics came directly from. The Classics is what Wundt was primarily studying when he began his notes, which turned into the first modern textbook on psychology.

Show them, through the numbers that they can write the normal Prussian way, dq posts, papers and the like. That is fine and have that syllabus ready. But then show them how to take the syllabus and the normal assigned writings and turn said into the foundation of a database. So that isolated facts can turn into a multidimensional puzzle. Where the ATEN and the other details involved are not only isolated information but how isolated facts relate to each other. How information is not isolation dependent. Education is more of a biodiverse molecular structure. Each molecule is itself a thing, but it is not isolated. Every given molecule in a structure is dependent and interdependent on the rest of the information.

You will write x words in this classroom, more if you want. You can write x words in the normal format and that will be fine. Map each student’s normal starting point, they did not know, then progress through what they do not know yet, ending at a certain area according to the structure of the accepted syllabus. Or they can take those same words and change the format to being an interconnected interdependent education database dynamic. They will learn a great deal more from building the database than just filling out essays and papers. Ask one simple question, how are say any given A fact connected to any other given B facts. what is the pathway (neuropathway) between A and B.

What will building a database and spending months and months thinking about “connections” extreme thank you to the great James Burke on his as mentioned series.

My students will learn time honored skills, but they will also learn about Connections. Those connections will help each student and the body of students connected improve in ways which cannot possibly be predictable. My students through this experimental, although through memory, and other think tank type structures the database is simply taking that concept and expanding it into basic education. Not just post master’s PhD professional work, but to learn how to work in a think tank while still possibly as young as junior high. What will they learn, as Louis Armstrong once paraphrased “They will learn things, I cannot even dream of”. which is the entire point, to push the boundaries of education, knowledge, mathematics, and science into areas those born in the 20th century could not fathom.

Of course one on one time is needed. But taylered to what each student needs. Some students need a lot more attention than others. Some are simply fantastic about self study, others need a strong syllabus and a great deal of guidance. Customize for each student.


4. Implementation of the philosophy

I have written my own textbooks, several of them. I write very fast, layered complex, detailed, etc. My fastest book was 135k words about the Wannsee Conference which began as a failed paper in a society class at Capella U. The teacher absolutely hated what I wrote, but I found very interesting information. I dropped the class and the school and continued writing on the ideas. That was the first time I was at Capella; I gave them another change hoping it was isolated. The admin proved not only was it not isolated, but the school itself was a cascade of problems. 4 weeks later and 140k words I had the foundation for a solid research project. That book became the foundation for 20 more. I can write extremely fast. My second record is 15530 words in a 24-hour period. That does not count the words I wrote in the 24 previous or post, several years later I broke that record with 17600 I think in a single 24-hour period.

I write my own textbooks. All of my work is database oriented. How does any given piece of information relate to any other given piece of information. Some have only the most basic of connections others are interdependent.

To my students I would teach them how to do what I do. Obviously not at my level of skills, but no reason to assume others cannot learn how to think the way I do. James Burke through his connections series taught me, the renaissance artists and thinkers taught him. Dante’s Inferno taught them, the story of Ǽneas through the poet Virgil in the story Ǽnead taught Dante, the Classics taught Virgil etic back before that but then there is the problem about undeciphered languages that were purposely destroyed to hide information from the ancient past.

Teach my students how to build their database. Teach them how to think based on making connections between seemingly nothing to do with each other items, which are actually close to the same subject. Example why does the Prussian Empire and the FreiKorp directly connect Adolf Hitler, the assassination of Alexander Hamilton, with the 7 years war. After review of the evidence it is difficult not to have them be virtually the same subject.

Teaching my students how to think in the connections way would be the point. Their minds will obviously make connections based on their interests. My interests are in my areas of specification. Each student’s own interests make connections to their own specifications.

Have each student build a database. But explain how they are taking the same exact number of required words to write and simply changing the format from x format into y format. Take an overwhelming concept and break it into individual pieces/ parts. Show that the idea is not that out of this world.


5. Professional growth plan

Taken from the ancient African phrase “When an old person dies, an entire library is destroyed”. Find ways to capture that library and that persons thinking patterns inside of an interactive database. At this point any realtime, interactive connections between how people think and the words they write would add to how much science knows about cognition and neuropathways. This database can significantly add to the human conditions understanding of both.

Today we think x write it down, tomorrow we will think y and if that is written down with a time marker and possibly a location marker. That tells science information currently being lost. Collect that x and y over the millions and possibly billions of humans in academics, and that is a solid statistical model regarding finding truths in cognition and neuropathway formulations. Have some of the more interesting students write down information while having their brain scanned in any number of different ways and that has the potential to add groundbreaking facts to the database study.

When I was at Tiffin University one of the people involved, if I would have recorded the conversation I would have more than sufficient legal grounds to sue that person and the university for creating a violently hostile environment. I left about the same time metaphorically a hand was placed on my neck and bottom tossing me out of the school. I did leave by choice because that is the only choice I had. I was informed several times by both email and phone calls that I was not going to be able to pass any more classes. The person specifically was using the students to form a research study on cognition. The problem was, I am such an extreme outlier that everything I did in class destroyed the entire study. The teachers hypothesis I disprove completely just by being present. Since that occurred, I could not finish my masters at TU because I proved the theory wrong. Instead of reworking the theory, tossing out the outlier proved much easier. My study can actually show physical evidence for that that person was trying to achieve, which I blew a hole in that study.

My teaching strategy is to as each students database fills in, they are in effect caring an information superhighway which can be directly corresponded with the neuropathways of the brain. Each students database can be oriented towards the way they think can be a direct reflection of the database they build. In other words, the database they create can be a hypothetical map of their mind.

Finding a school or founding a school where these ideas of each student builds a database are the centerpiece of my teaching career. I want to create a think tank, which does require a considerable amount of work and time. But the think tank/school I require might be more of a challenge than I think. Creating a University from scratch is much more difficult than it sounds, and it sounds close to impossible.

Creating a school is not outside the realm of a needed thing. To venture outside the function and structure of the Prussian school system and focus every class, every department, every student and teacher into building their own database. How to achieve that goal, that is a huge problem. Over time the more and more complex the database grows; the more ideas can be drawn from the function and structure of the database itself.

Scan in as many student papers, work, notes, etc. as possible of the billions of people around the world with some level of education. Creating a database which would not exactly be similar to proving some type of a mass consciousness exists. This would also lay the groundwork to prove a quantum field thinking concept is also in existence. The Romans operated from the perspective of the same exact idea, but they used the word Genius. Which came from the concept of Janus. Janus schema is in effect Israel. How to improve as a teacher, build and maintain the database worldwide. As mentioned above the ATEN and the Janus concept are two separate nouns which are completely connected in so many ways it is difficult to separate out all the different subjects. I can show 30 entirely separate graphics, each one is a collage of different ideas all revolving around the same Janus Pyramids structure.

However, introducing new ideas into academia usually does not sit well with the establishment. The establishment is comfortable with the system it already has. It knows its benefits and limitations. Throwing what is known and comfortable out for something which for the most part works entirely differently usually takes a huge fight and creates huge amounts of structural problems.

As for teaching individual students, I have huge issues with social skills to begin with, being in a classroom might not be a good place for me to be. Although in a brick and mortar hierarchal environment it might be the absolute best since my missing social skills and in an older school structure where teacher student interactions are based on a different set or rules than what most Americans are used to. That might work great, petition the queen for a royal title, and teach at one of those UK schools so that my social awkwardness can be masked by a structure which directly limits to very specific parameters how teachers and students are allowed to interact. This would likely be the best way. I have clear rules in which to interact, and my students also have extremely clear rules from which to interact. How to address each other, how to communicate, extremely limited social interactions, structured office hours, etc. Being addressed as my royal title with all the pomp and said which goes with that; would be the best structure for me. Fortunately for me my DNA allows this fiction to be realistic. Which would also allow for my personalized database concept to be accepted a bit more since the Queen and the Royal family and my cousins would also be strongly advocating for the same.

What Goals have I set for myself

Finishing my PhD would be a great first start. I have more than a handful of nonacademic challenges in that area. Second work on my research. Now to figure out how to teach.

How do I accomplish these goals

Most of those answers have yet to become clear. The want to do is strong, the need to do is stronger, the ability that comes with enumerable challenges and unforeseen problems and solutions.

My teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is to continue to work within the realm of research specifically history, and neuro with some emphasis on cognition. Since some of my database research is starting to take on the form of a database with some structure to it. Some of the history connections made and proven show the earliest ideas that with sufficient testing can move into the realm of a hypothesis what some type of a cognitive stream or quantum field thinking patterns do exist which motivate the species. Exploring those ideas and allowing my students to explore said world is my teaching philosophy. Through the Socratic Method and of course the Scientific Method.

 


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