Brandon Burke
410 Hill Street Farmville, VA 23901
(909)-747-4934
Brandon.Burke@live.longwood.edu
Teaching Philosophy
I originally did not have the intentions of being a teacher when I came to college. I was an art major and I did not think I was much good at it and switched my major to undeclared. I spoke with one on my teachers that semester and she encouraged me to get back into art because what I was doing was good. I told her I was not great at the assignments because it was hard for me to relate to the subject. She helped me find out what I enjoyed and how to relate these things to projects. This is when I decided I wanted to be an art teacher. I want to be able to give children a spot where they feel comfortable and can enhance their artistic ability even if they do not think they have one. I want to be able to encourage students to keep pushing forward and make sure they know they have someone there for them. It is not fully about teaching students how to make a straight line for me. I believe that if they want to make a line that curves every which way then go for it but I want to teach them that they need a reason for that. Students need to still be disciplined and there will be appropriate measures. I would have set things like time at a desk by yourself and then the hallway and work up. I feel that if I am giving students the freedom, that many people seek, but in an instructed way then discipline is not needed as much. By teaching this way this will hopefully encourage students to want to do the same, just how it worked for me. Teaching students this way is different from traditional but it helps even for discipline-based learning. Allowing students to have freedom in classes and work they can still easily accomplish SOL goals how they want to.