As an educator, I believe it is my responsibility to create an atmosphere where students have the freedom to explore and come to their own conclusions. My goal is to create critical thinkers by allowing students to interact with different environments and viewpoints to develop their own connections. It is my belief that the teacher's role is to facilitate a context where these connections can be made; presenting students with material to encourage personal discovery without cramming students with information to memorize.

For me, the importance of education lies in helping students develop an understanding of critical concepts that can be applied over an array of topics as opposed to content driven schooling. My hope is that with a foundational knowledge of concepts students can drive their own learning and delve deeper into subjects that truly interest them. What I value most as an educator is understanding the thought process when coming to conclusions, rather than the result they come to at the end. Emphasizing the importance of reasoning and sharing their process with significant support is what I hope to cultivate in my students. 

While one can achieve these goals many different ways, I am drawn to the field of experiential education as a way to inspire active learning. Experiential education takes the student away from the classroom and into a new, often unfamiliar, environment. It is in this forum that a student fully immerses his or herself into learning. By taking away the classroom, my approach to teaching is to help foster an appreciation for place, and to assist in transference of concepts from the classroom to a new environment and to bring new learnings back to school.