Mr. Ferrin - Basics
Hi everyone,
I focus my teaching philosophy on two main quotes:
“You are unfortunate, in my judgment, because you have never been unfortunate. You have passed through life with no antagonist to face you. No one will know what you are capable of; not even yourself.” -Seneca
I believe my job as an educator is to scaffold students through a series of complicated historical thinking skills. Students need to read, write, and research history to develop complex understanding of the past. The goal is not to bury students in small tasks, but to challenge them through a complicated series of questions. In order to develop their thought process, students must be appropriately challenged. Much like a weightlifter, the exercise cannot be too light nor too heavy, but at a level designed to maximize growth. In education speak, this is called the Zone of Proximal Development. Our inquiry into history is not designed for simple memorization, but to apply historical knowledge to complicated questions which have several perspectives.
“All knowledge is spendable currency depending upon the market.” -Maya Angelou
Students sometimes say "when will I use this in real life?" My response is "you don't know what your life is going to be." This quote, which was lovingly thrown at me throughout my childhood by my own mother, is a reminder that there is no such thing as useless knowledge, and there is no subject from which we can derive zero curiosity.
The core of my instruction is to give students a difficult challenge in which multiple perspectives are added to historical questions, but the answer to that instruction is a cultivation of student curiosity.
Mr. Ferrin's Education and Credentials:
National Boards Certified Teacher, AYA Social Studies
MA in Education, Curriculum and Instruction, CSUN
Credential in Social Studies, Supplemental in Music, CSUN
BA in Ethnomusicology, Minor in Visual and Performing Arts Education, UCLA
AP Reader for APUSH since 2022
Mr. Ferrin's Interests:
Fatherhood
Guitar
Music
Reading
Podcasts
