Teaching with Wonder: A Philosophy of Cultivating Human Potential
By Mary D’Amour, M.A.T., Science
As an avid gardener, I’ve learned a powerful truth: I cannot force a plant to grow or bloom. What I can do is cultivate the right conditions—nourishing soil, proper light, and consistent water—and then trust in the quiet miracle of growth. In the same way, teaching is not about delivering content or checking boxes. It is about creating the fertile environment in which each student can flourish—unfolding their innate talents, creativity, curiosity, and purpose.
The exceptional educator, like the master gardener, understands that each child is unique, requiring a personalized care to truly thrive. Just as the master gardener sets the seed in the right amount of sunlight and tends it with care, so too must the master teacher nurture each student's emotional, intellectual, and moral development. We must foster classrooms rooted in respect, wonder, and possibility—where questions are as celebrated as answers, and every child feels seen, safe, and inspired.
My own educational philosophy took root when I founded a private school in 1998 and has grown over the years through experience in diverse educational roles and ongoing professional development. Influenced by classical and holistic educational thinkers such as Aristotle, Maria Montessori, Susan Wise Bauer, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Sir Ken Robinson, John Mays and Haim Ginott, I embrace a whole-child approach that recognizes each learner as a uniquely gifted individual. I believe that great teaching begins with great relationships—knowing our students deeply, listening to their aspirations, and reflecting their interests in the curriculum we create together. This maieutic approach to teaching, also known as the Socratic method, involves a teacher guiding students toward discovery mostly through questioning, rather than simply using direct instruction. It's based on the idea that knowledge already exists within the learner and the teacher's role is to draw it out. The teacher doesn't simply provide answers but encourages students to think critically, ask questions, develop models and deepen their understanding of the natural world through observation, experimentation, mathematical and analytical reasoning and plenty of dialogue with others.
At the start of each term, I invite my students to write a letter sharing their passions, strengths, and dreams. I also reach out to families, gathering their insights through a parent survey. This twofold practice lays the foundation for a learning environment where students and their families feel valued and known. My goal is to cultivate not just academic growth, but also emotional intelligence, moral courage, and a lifelong love of learning.
True education is not just the accumulation of facts—it is the awakening of wonder. In science, I guide students to be active participants in inquiry. They will ask big questions, design and carry out investigations, gather and analyze data, and develop their own arguments grounded in evidence. Through this process, students come to see science not as a static body of knowledge, but as a living, dynamic way of understanding the natural world---as a means of discovering truth. Our classroom will be alive with discussion and debate—on bioethics, emerging technologies, prevailing theories in biology and environmental challenges—where students respectfully engage with diverse perspectives and wrestle with real-world complexities.
Inspired by the classical model’s rhetoric stage, I emphasize the development of articulate, critical thinkers who can speak and write with clarity and conviction. Students will be encouraged to connect scientific concepts to their own lives and communities, applying their knowledge to solve local and world-wide problems and explore their calling. Education, when done with intention and heart, becomes a catalyst for human transformation—both individual and societal. The end goal is human flourishing!
A thriving classroom is also shaped by the teacher’s spirit. Haim Ginott’s words, which hang by my desk, remind me daily of the profound influence I hold:
“I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” (Ginott 1975)”
I strive to be the kind of teacher who lifts, inspires, and empowers. One who listens without judgment, responds with warmth, and makes space for every voice. In my classroom, there is no such thing as a bad answer—only brave attempts to engage and grow. With gentle encouragement such as, “Great insight, Susie!” or “Interesting point, Johnny!”—students are reminded that their ideas matter.
My vision is not simply to teach science, but to awaken the scientist within each scholar—to ignite a passionate curiosity about the world and a deep sense of responsibility to it. I want them to leave not only with knowledge, but with wonder. To carry forward the courage to ask questions, to challenge their own assumptions, and become agents of growth, both personally and culturally.
As Maria Montessori so beautifully said,
“An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking: it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to times in which they live.”
I believe that teaching with wonder, purpose, and compassion is how we prepare students not just for passing tests, but for life—and for shaping a more thoughtful, humane, and hopeful world, where humans thrive and become faithful stewards of the beautiful world we have been given.
Sources:
"A man's real belief is that which he lives by. What a man believes is the thing he does, not the thing he thinks." -- George Macdonald
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." -- Martin Luther King
