Teaching Philosophy Statement

My passion for history developed as a teen reading biographies of famous Americans or events in military history, and listening to family members and role models describe the Great Depression and World War II. As a non-traditional college student, in a rich academic environment, I could develop principles for teaching that focused on professionalism, and on providing students with the necessary skills and materials to harness their own learning process.

Traditionally, text-based history instruction limits teachers to delivering information rather than empowering students to interpret the past. I want to encourage learning on two levels, the facts (who, what, where, and when) and the more challenging level where individual skills are developed through problem solving and analytical thinking. I believe in active learning not only to create interactive classrooms, but to present theories and empirical data to students in manner that allows them to make connections between the past and their own lives. I believe in raising questions rather than answers. Teachers have the power to encourage students to teach themselves. I will emphasize these practices in lectures, presentations, classroom discussion, and writing assignments.

As a teaching candidate, I have an obligation to the past and those historians before me. But I also feel compelled to find my own niche in the field, keep abreast of recent scholarship, and changes in the profession. My goal is to encourage students to discover the excitement found in researching the historical world. Historians should be teacher/researcher, archivist, curator, and administrator. I attend professional conferences, presenting papers, publishing, and participating in professional organizations. I remain open to teaching career paths outside of the classroom, including public history and professional research. By taking responsibility for the learning environment and developing student-teacher team relationships, I will strive to create and sustain an appropriate environment where the pursuit of excellence in teaching and in learning coexist.

Christopher Michael Jannings