Hello everyone,
I have so enjoyed reading your teaching philosophy statements! They are well done. Indeed, I liked them so much, I decided to create a word cloud from the statements. I just posted that in the post prior to this one.
The key words are clear in the word cloud: you used the word “student/s” most frequently! What a student centered group! Also learning and knowledge are central. I see those ideas in individual posts, along with several key themes that support your student-centered stances. You articulated several key roles and responsibilities of instructors:
High expectations
- Neil points out that he strives to hold students to high expectations.
- Carla describes wanting to help students be ready for their careers and also holding them to high expectations.
Clear goals
- Dana notes the importance of clear learning goals. while tying them to the real world.
- Tony describes the notion of “alignment” in several ways, both alignment between teachers and students’ goals and alignment between these goals, department goals, and the institution’s goals.
- Marieke articulates the difference between wanting student to just know an answer and wanting them to really learn; the goal drives the teaching
Motivation and engagement
- Carolina notes that motivation is a critical aspect of student learning…it is essential for the best learning possible to occur.
- Darryl notes the importance of being flexible and changing in approaches to teaching, and striving to motivate students through a contagious, happy energy.
- Brandi notes that you must respect individuals to motivate them.
- LaNa notes the importance of making assignments valuable and real to students, and helping them to build their academic portfolios.
Learning environments
- Erin connects her teaching philosophy with her teaching of faculty. She develops the idea of the importance of the educational environment.
- Shanae notes that it’s important to engage students and that creating a positive and safe learning environment is essential for this to happen.
Relationships/caring
- Kit describes the importance of building community and describes being able to do so by making connections between instructor and students’ interests.
- Akeisha notes the importance of tailoring a lesson to the individual students as well as the importance of active learning and co-construction of knowledge, citing transformational relationships.
- Kiara describes her love of learning and makes a link to how that is important being a good teacher. She also notes the important role of caring.
- Charlie notes the importance of the personal relationship between the instructor and students.
Note: I’m not saying that this is all each of you said—just trying to pull out some key themes that crossed posts here.
Again I really enjoyed reading your philosophies. Thank you for sharing them with me and with each other. And for your comments on each others’ posts! Please continue commenting, and make sure that everyone gets at least a comment or two each week!
