Terrence Foushee - On his teaching philosophy (clip)

Terrence Foushee (TF): One of the things I appreciate about students is like we don’t give them enough credit for how smart they are, and I mean like, emotionally aware, that is one of the things I truly appreciate about the students that I’ve had the opportunity to teach.

Kathryn Wall (KW): Yeah, they’re such partners in making good work.

TF: Yes! Education is a partnership. I love that you said that. It is a partnership that we both bring something to the table. And, the teacher is not the person that is always teaching. You learn so much from your students. And if you truly care about your craft, your reflection, the time that you take to understand what worked and what didn’t is based on what you learned from your students. Your students will teach you so much about yourself and they’ll teach you so much about how you teach. And how do I not just see myself as I am the king, the queen, the ruler of this class. No, this is an experience where we come together to learn a lot. Now, I might be the facilitator of that learning, but you know, I’m not just the king, I’m not the ruler everything I say goes. If I truly care about the students in my class, sometimes I have to adapt, sometimes I have to take in when they tell me something, “I didn’t appreciate when you did this in my classroom,” or maybe something that I put in my classroom was something only a few students could relate to. How do I expand that to make sure I bring more students into my conversation, or into the assignment, or more engaged. So, it's a learning experience while you’re also being a facilitator of learning.