JE SSE M C I N TO SH

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1005A Josephine New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 Phone: 202 330 3646 E-Mail: jbmcintosh@gmail.com

Teaching Philosophy
To instill a respect for complexity and to develop the faculty of considered
judgmentthose have been my main priorities as a college and high school teacher. As
students transition from adolescence to adulthood, from being minors to being independent
and accountable citizens, their need for fundamental information is replaced by their own
demands for meaning, for relevance, and for opportunities to apply their knowledge to the
outside world. My task as an instructor is to encourage these quests for personal significance
and social engagement, while simultaneously teaching students to reflect upon and critique
these very endeavors. The goal is not freeze pupils in contemplation and prevent action, but
rather to help students fuse the two, so that their adult lives will be ones steered by an active,
critical theory and a reflective, creative practice.
These pedagogical goals are fine in theory, but my experience teaching inmates at
San Quentin, traditional college students at Berkeley and Columbia, and the younger pupils
at Bard and Isidore Newman has taught me that theoretical aspirations are only meaningful
if they can be applied successfully in a classroom of radically diverse and different young
adults. I try to create an environment that balances individual perspectives and respectful
friendship with collective goals and selflessness. Each of my students has heightened my
sensitivity to how background, environment, and difference create various perspectives, each
of which deserves recognition. Students learn to voice their opinions and perspectives
confidently, while also learning to discern when doing so contributes to the common good
of the class and when it detracts from it. Ultimately, my desire is to create pluralistic cultures
that do not just tolerate difference, but appreciate it, so long as competing perspectives are
expressed in reasoned and civil speech. Discussion, debate, and demonstration thus form the
core methods for achieving these goals in my classrooms.