"When the learner is ready the teacher always appears"

The title of this post seems to describe the foundation of my teaching philosophy.

Coupled with my theory that all development is self-development, the saying, "When the learner is ready the teacher always appears" calls for me to be alert for signals the learner is ready.

Below is a document I wrote several years ago while pondering on my personal teaching philosopy:

John H. Dolezal

Teaching Philosophy

There is a saying that suggests, “When the learner is ready, the teacher always appears.” Perhaps, this saying summarizes the perspective I have for the learner-teacher relationship and for my role and vocation as teacher.

While the saying captures the nature of my teaching philosophy, it doesn’t begin to completely describe it.

Perhaps, my teaching philosophy can be gleaned from my experiences as learner, teacher, and encourager for the value of life-long learning and personal growth.

While my experiences as a learner began with birth, it was my experiences as an elementary school student that first impacted my teaching philosophy. The strongest impact came from particular teachers that seemed to encourage learning by communicating empathy, showing compassion, and setting expectations that would both challenge and encourage growth.

Advancing from elementary school and through high school provided new sources and models for me to begin understanding more about positive and productive teacher-learner relationships. However, the strongest influence on my teaching philosophy arose as a college student and mainly in response to what I didn’t like as a student.  The classes were large and the instructors seemed aloof and without any particular identity of someone who cared (or, due to the large number of students or other reasons). The saying, “When the learner is ready, the teacher is always present” didn’t seem to apply for many of my college experiences.

Upon graduating from college my role in the teacher-learner relationship seemed to switch from student to teacher. Serving as a public-school teacher was a great experience and provided me ample opportunity to act with courage and take heart creating a safe and comfortable environment for the students, to communicate empathy and use real-life examples that would attract interest and give the learner opportunity to personally connect with what was being taught.

The next set of opportunity to gain clarity on my teaching philosophy came in the world of business and my role as Corporate Training Manager. Serving in this role demanded that I recognize that the learners I would be working with adults and that authority granted to a teacher working with students required by law to attend class would no longer exist. The learners would be participating primarily on a “voluntary” and “need to know now” basis.

As Corporate Training Manager I decided to approach learners as customers and with the “Exchange of Value Concept” approach. This required that I work at identifying the “need” the learner (and the business) wanted or needed satisfied. I decided to go into a learning mode and gain knowledge and understanding for what are referred to as “Adult Learning Principles” and “Facilitating Skills.” I also identified that the “resources” required for a positive and productive relationship with these “customers” related to time, attention, quality information, assistance, and feedback.  These are the resources of value with trust being the main “currency” for me to use in gaining resources valued by the learner.

Perhaps, the greatest influence on my teaching philosophy came from working as an “internal change agent” at Ditch Witch. The founder of the company gave me total freedom to strengthen core values in the company but, with the condition that I had no organizational power.

After much research and thought on just how a person with no power might strengthen corporate values for a company of over 1,000 employees, I discovered the notion that personal influence was the strategy to implement. And, I decided that trust-building skills and effective interpersonal communication would be the most effective influencing skills.

After retiring from Ditch Witch, I began working as an adjunct instructor for Northern Oklahoma College. What a grand opportunity to serve and to encourage the growth of learners!

As an adjunct, I apply the “Exchange of Value Concept”, Trust-Building skills, and Effective Interpersonal Skills while communicating empathy, showing compassion, and learning more about connecting content to student’s learning goals and interests (and to real-life).

So, as stated at the beginning, my teaching philosophy has evolved from reflecting on my experiences as a student/learner, from my experiences teaching in public schools, working as an educator and change agent in business and captured within the saying that “When the learner is ready, the teacher is always present.”