Mr. Hagge
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
— T. S. Elliot
I have brooded over what I might write here to show how devoted I am to what I do, but I always slip into the subtle, despised jargon of scholastic dialogue. So, I decided to speak as though you were standing right in front of me. My name is Ryan Hagge, and I am a teacher. If you look at my family photo you will notice how my daughter is looking at something else off screen. This image has come to symbolize one of the core purposes for why I teach. I want to help people discover. I honestly believe that whatever my daughter is so focused on is more important than the photograph, and that she has the innate human right to follow her curiosity. Thus, my educational philosophy revolves around something I term pedagogical curiosity. This term represents the innate desire of the human soul to discover and learn. I believe this desire is being crushed by the weight of pseudo-learning and pseudo-teaching: pretending to learn (playing the education game) and pretending to teach (playing the survival game). Many students play a guessing game in school: how do I change my work to fit the desires of the teacher, what do I have to do to get an "A", how much work is enough? These questions often undermind the desire to discover, and lead students and teachers into the vortex of people pleasing.
By way of identification, I am eclectic. I try to gather educational information from all relevant sources, and I use the resources that I believe will work (based on published research). This preference stems from my college experience. I began college as a computer science major, which means I took several math and science courses not required for an English Education degree. I also minored in music for a time, as well as math, drama, communications, history, and computer engineering. I grew up telling people, “I am a jack of all trades, and the master of none.” There is so much in the world that interests my curiosity, and I have tried to discover all I possibly could from this curiosity. Now, I am trying to share, with others, that eclectic experience: the experience of discovery.
By way of identification, I am eclectic. I try to gather educational information from all relevant sources, and I use the resources that I believe will work (based on published research). This preference stems from my college experience. I began college as a computer science major, which means I took several math and science courses not required for an English Education degree. I also minored in music for a time, as well as math, drama, communications, history, and computer engineering. I grew up telling people, “I am a jack of all trades, and the master of none.” There is so much in the world that interests my curiosity, and I have tried to discover all I possibly could from this curiosity. Now, I am trying to share, with others, that eclectic experience: the experience of discovery.
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