My Personal Life in a Nutshell

It’s difficult, to sum up, your life in a few lines, but I’ll give it a try.

Diversity is one theme in my life.  My father is from India, my mother from the US.  Growing up in rural PA, I stood out as different and had to handle racism on a personal level at a very young age.  Luckily, I had a stable family with strong, core values that allowed me to be resilient in the face of this somewhat turbulent environment. As I have grown older, I find myself with friends from many different backgrounds and cultures.

Another theme is my life is belief.  My parents met during a time while my mother was doing mission work in India.  My father taught her the language of his state (Gujarati), and they later married. As the son of 2 church-going parents, I found myself involved in both the church and its efforts to help others.  During my college years, I delved more into different types of religions like Hinduism and Buddhism I was also involved in outreach efforts like Brethren Student Fellowship and Habitat for Humanity.  Today, I am a practicing Orthodox Christian and am active within my congregation.

The last theme that pervades my life is sports.  Many who know me would have placed this first because I am fanatical about sports.  My favorite teams all come from Philadelphia. I exercise regularly and coach my kids.

All of these parts of me come together in my life.  I’m glad to share them with my wife Deanna and 3 sons, Simeon, Noah, and Micah.  It makes for a fun and interesting life.

Instructional Philosophy

Although I am an analytical person by nature, I have found that much of my time in education has been so hectic that I have ignored developing and basing my work on what I believe is best or most appropriate for a group of learners.  I have operated according to a “rule-of-thumb” sequence that includes incorporating teaching strategies that I felt worked based upon my experience as a student and teacher.  After enrolling in the IDT Master’s at Thomas Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University), I have begun to reexamine and start an evolution in my philosophy which satisfies both my theory and practice of instruction and instructional design.

I was initially challenged by Dr. Pritchard in MC70 Designing Instructional Systems at Philadelphia University with the question, “What is your philosophy?”  I must admit the question troubled me because I discovered that I had a theoretical philosophy that differed from my practical, classroom-teacher philosophy.

Theoretically, I believe that constructivism according to the teachings of Vygotsky makes the most sense in creating an environment of maximum learning and growth.  In my opinion, allowing students to create knowledge in a social environment not only works but also makes the learning experience more enjoyable.  Providing scaffolding for the learner forces the learner to become more inquisitive and self-reliant.  I believe that knowledge created by a learner has a greater chance to stay with the learner.  Also, the constructivist philosophy is more democratic in nature than a direct approach in which the learner must submit to the teachings of a higher authority.  I believe that constructivism can help improve learning and society.

In the classroom, I operated under more of a behavioral context, like that of Gagne.  The teaching of mathematics follows a sequence.  Students learn concepts based upon previous knowledge. I found myself starting with an objective, demonstrating a procedure, then providing opportunities for practice.  Although this helps students to learn procedures, it did not for much time for my students to reflect and apply high-order learning.

The battle of theories in my mind has led to several changes in my life.  First, I tried to add more of the constructivist philosophy in my high school teaching.  I had students work on collaborative projects that helped them to see how concepts they were learning applied to their lives.  Second, I used training opportunities that have arisen in the courses at Philadelphia University as a chance to practice constructivism.  Instead of teaching using a straight lecture, I provided resources (scaffolding) and I had students work collaboratively to create knowledge.  Third, I took a position as an instructional designer at Penn State University.  In this capacity, I have gotten the opportunity to apply constructivist philosophies in courses that I’m involved in creating.

I am so glad to have started on the journey of examining and reflecting on my philosophy and hope to continue as I move forward into the next step of my educational journey.