The document outlines the teaching philosophy of Dalzell. It advocates engaging students where they are in terms of their imaginations and personal interests in order to connect with them. This approach is effective for teaching composition by asking students to actively generate meaning and connect their own ideas to ongoing discourse. Learning involves questioning assumptions, developing the whole person through exchanging perspectives, and promoting tolerance by exposing students to different viewpoints. The role of the instructor is to facilitate students' growth from their current understanding to higher rungs on the ladder of knowledge.

1. Dalzell/Philosophy
Statement of Teaching Philosophy/Dalzell
In my experience, the best way to teach effectively, regardless of the subject, is to
engage students from where they are, in a figuratively geographical sense, both as far as
their imaginations and with regard to their personal interests. The imagination allows for
the consideration of possibilities; personal interest encourages investment in the topic at
hand. In order to connect with anyone, you first have to go out and meet them.
The above approach is especially appropriate when teaching composition where
students are asked to actively generate meaning, to connect their own ideas and responses
to an ongoing discourse, but is also effective when introducing students to new ideas,
and/or experiential stances, developed by different cultural milieus.
The more a student feels that he or she is contributing to the development of a course,
not simply enduring it for credit, the more that student will creatively address the
required ideas and materials. Feeling effectual is a great tonic. While the role of the
instructor is to introduce what may initially be new experiences for the student, the
discourse should never be allowed to become a monologue.
Learning is not a passive exercise; it necessarily involves risk and challenges one’s
comfort zones. It is generally characterized by the following:
• Learning involves questioning. Nothing in the way of understanding can be
changed without a willingness to let go of previously held, and possibly
cherished, assumptions.
• Learning develops the whole person. On one level, the classroom is a space where
specific knowledges and skills are articulated. On another, it is an arena, a shared
context, wherein ideas may be both exchanged and buffeted according to
individual participating perspectives, a process that has the potential to enrich all
involved.
• Learning promotes tolerance. While the purpose of an education seems to be
increasingly defined as primarily vocational, at least by many students and their
parents, in my view, education has a more fundamental societal role. I believe that
it is a basic human characteristic, as gregarious creatures, to be drawn toward
those with whom we identify – those that are “like me.” There is a problem,
however, when that identification is defined too narrowly, or according to
superficial criteria. One of the greatest benefits that education has to offer is
widening the scope of identification with others. Every time a student is exposed
to a viewpoint different from his or her own, that perspective, while perhaps being
ultimately rejected, still requires the mind to “try it on for size,” if only
temporarily. A collection of stored perspectives is the best inducement toward
tolerance of differences.
In summary, there is the traditional Chinese model of knowledge as a ladder. A
person’s current understanding of the world may be depicted as occupying a rung on a
ladder. In order to grow, however, that person must eventually let go of that rung in order
to climb higher. The role of the instructor is to facilitate that transition.
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