Philosophy of Education
Timothy D. Gross
At the core of the word “education” is the notion of to “draw out.” And with this core notion of
education, I begin to construct my philosophy of teaching. By this I mean that when given the
privilege to teach anyone, I remind myself that my task is to draw out of my students their
potential. Building on what I believe education is, my teaching then pivots around the following
key ingredients.
First, I believe each student has innate talents or gifts. In other words, the human being is not
born a blank slate unto which I place my information. Each student comes to higher education
with a wealth of cultural experience, interests, insights, loves, desires etc. It is my task as a
teacher to listen to the students and help them articulate their talents in a way that fits into today’s
complex society. If instead of listening to the students I begin trying to fill them with information
that may or may not touch their imaginations, I will have succeeded in perhaps boring them with
irrelevant information, or worse yet, driving them from their initial love of theatre and the
creative arts. Finding each student’s talent may be difficult and time consuming, yet it is a central
ingredient in “drawing them out” that they might realize their unique love of learning.
While I believe that each student has innate value and a unique talent or gift, I also believe that
each student is at the same time empty without some knowledge or theoretical background
regarding theatre or in the language of technical theatre knowledge of “design.” My favorite
instructors told their stories or shared their knowledge of the subject with passion and wonder.
Theatre has a rich and complicated history and students ignorant of this background are indeed
left behind. Therefore an integral part of my teaching philosophy is the creative presentation of
the best from the past and the most exciting contributions of the present. I try to fill this
ingredient by using many different aspects of instruction; for example, when appropriate I lecture,
create dialogues on key theoretical issues, role play, and plan for student research presentations.
In other words, I endeavor to use a variety of instructional tools to present the content of a well
rounded theatre curriculum.
Finally, not only are talent and theory central to my philosophy of teaching, but also
practice/performance. Of all the disciplines under the rubric of the “liberal arts,” theatre is one
that requires student involvement. The student must have the opportunity to perform. With
performance comes the integration of talent and theory. Practice/performance, especially in
technical theatre, puts the student to the test. With this ingredient students learn to feel their
innate talent and their theoretical-mental aspects come together in a bodily form. With
practice/performance, theatre comes alive for each individual student.
Of course the three must work in concert. Bringing this concert together is the task of any skilled
instructor, and is itself an art--the art of teaching.
What I have stated here is of course a parroting of a philosophy of effective teaching as old as
classical Greek culture. Yet, I believe in this philosophy of teaching. I also believe it is an
essential part of good theatre education. I know this approach works because my best teachers
taught from this philosophical perspective.