Biography
I see teaching as involving a reciprocal relationship between teachers and students-I believe that teachers have duties to their students and that students have duties to their teachers. I believe that it is my responsibility as a teacher to provide students with the following: • an environment conducive to learning, • knowledge that will help them be successful in achieving their lives' goals, • materials, opportunities, and feedback that will help them learn, and • help in becoming and remaining motivated to be successful both in their studies and in applying their knowledge to solve problems in their lives. I also believe that my students have duties to me, to their fellow students, and to themselves. I believe that these duties support me in fulfilling my duties to students. Thus, I believe that it is the students' responsibility to be supportive of the teacher and fellow students by being: • tolerant of different points of view, • prepared for class, • willing to work hard to complete course activities, • willing to bring their life experiences into the class to enrich discussions, and • willing to try to apply what they learn in class to solve the problems they face on their jobs and in their lives. Therefore, because of the reciprocal nature of the duties between teachers and students, I believe that it is a fundamental mistake to see students as customers or as clients because such a view incorrectly implies that the primary duties in the relationship are the teachers' duties to the students and virtually ignores the duties of students to their teachers, fellow students, and themselves.