Ishmael Harris McKinstry
Education Philosophy
The purpose of education is to empathetically, intentionally, and skillfully impart the necessary information into scholars that would galvanize one’s natural abilities, intended purpose, and interest within their social communities and abroad. Specifically, as a Choral and Theatre Arts Director, I aim to provide an intentional, authentic, safe, and all-inclusive growing environment for every scholar I encounter. By the way, the words growing and learning are interchangeable in my education disposition. I understand that when scholars are understood as human, acknowledged as human, and received as human, they are willing and capable of accepting what I am thoughtfully communicating, meaning they are open and wanting to learn from me. I am most effective in a growing environment when my intentions are pure, impartial, and trustworthy. I am most effective in a growing environment when it is clear, without reasonable doubt, that I genuinely care for all. I am most effective as an educator when I intentionally accept scholars as who they are with respect, dignity, and love. I am most effective as an educator when I model the expectations I expect from every scholar in and outside of the learning environment.
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To be an effectively proficient 21st-century educator, I have learned to acknowledge the learner's individuality. Yes, this means acknowledging the different learning styles of individual learners but also recognizing the multiple intelligences one may possess. Within my learning environments, I acknowledge different learning styles by consistently providing scholars with the option to physically, virtually, and auditorily access instructional materials and assignments. Like most learning spaces, musical and theatrical concepts rely primarily on linguistic-verbal intelligence. I acknowledge multiple intelligences within my choral and theatre communities by recognizing that every scholar may not want to sing but instead create choreography [bodily-kinesthetic intelligence] for performances like every scholar may not want to act on stage but enjoys managing a production's logistics, logical-mathematical intelligence.
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As an educator, I believe that my philosophy of education takes away little nuggets from a few different educational theorists. One, in particular, is Abraham Maslow and his Theory of Human Motivation. Without a doubt, I believe that a scholar’s physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization obligations influence how and what they learn. Because of Maslow’s theory, I believe that learning (growing) is a continuous process of constantly working to reach one’s full potential as we find our place in an ever-changing world. Maslow understood that a human without basic physiological needs is hard to engage and motivate. As an educator, I believe that it is my responsibility to ensure that scholars eat, hydrate, and rest, even if this takes away from instruction time.
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Without intentionally incorporating culturally responsive teaching within my learning environments, curriculum, course content, instruction methodologies and strategies, and implementation of differentiated learning, as an educator, I fail the whole scholar and the communities they contribute to. I consistently interview each scholar to learn their personality, background, interests, and specific desires in my classes. I furthermore deem it a responsibility to interview stakeholders and periodically welcome them within my learning environments to motivate and encourage scholar engagement. Finally, being a Choral and Theatre Arts educator, I often incorporate many different cultures within a lesson, activity, and performance, enabling scholars to embrace the differences that surround us daily.
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As a future teacher leader, my philosophy goes beyond the educational development of my scholars but to my fellow education colleagues as well. Educators are forever learners alongside our scholars. As I continue to grasp the significance of the different learning styles, multiple intelligences, and cultural responsiveness of my scholars, I believe that I must do the same as a teacher leader; approaching teaching teachers with the same empathy, intention, and skill to stimulate further growth within an ever-changing education system.