1.
Teaching Philosophy
There are various useful and
efficient teaching philosophies, which are important to both teachers and
students. My major is Chemical Engineering and
college students are trained in both classes and laboratories. I have been a
student for more than ten years but never thought about what the most appropriate
way to pass knowledge was until I did a teaching assistant job last year. I was
a teaching assistant for a Chemical Engineering review course and a laboratory
course. It turns out the teaching philosophy had some similarities in these
kinds of courses and I learned a lot from these experiences.
To the
best of my knowledge, the most important thing in teaching is to arise
students’ interest in the subject and keep them curious about the knowledge. Learning
on one’s own initiative is the most effective way to learn. Or conversely, if
they lose their interest in the subject, the students may have antipathy to the
course and may not want to really understand it. This becomes more critical
when it comes to theoretical knowledge. Trying to keep students curious and
interested, I always make the class relaxing and interactive.
Some
technologies can also be used to raise students’ interest. For example, playing
videos is a good way to express what happens in chemical reactions and can help
students have a better understanding of the reaction. Asking students questions
is another way I usually use. By getting their response, I can know if they
have mastered the knowledge or not and what’s their expectation of me.
Asking
students to learn in groups is also an effective way in teaching. On one hand,
students can discuss with each other and learn from their classmates. The
discussion may also bring up new questions and can help them learn more
comprehensively. On the other hand, if some students are mind wandering in
class, studying in a group can help them to concentrate their attention on the
class again. What’s more, students can also learn how to cooperate with others
from group learning, which is a significant skill for everyone.
In
conclusion, keeping students curious and interested in the subject, using
technologies and making students learn in groups are the most effective
teaching philosophies for me. (Songjing)
2. Teaching philosophy
Being a good teacher is my primary motivation for
enrolling in the PhD program in Interior and Environmental Design at Texas Tech
University. After four years working as an Interior design lecturer for
undergraduate students in Vietnam, I realized that effective learning
environments should be combinations of interacting, practicing and synthesizing
activities. To accomplish these requirements, teachers should be perfectly
capable of organizing and navigating their classes. I believe studying in Texas
Tech, a professional academic environment, would give me valuable experiences
for my teaching career in the near future.
Interior design is an intricate process, which
involves the works of many people from different fields. Therefore, students in
this major should develop the abilities to convince, negotiate and compromise.
Students can achieve these skills through the process of interacting with
teachers and their peers. However, design assignments are usually individual
tasks, which eventually prevent the interactions between students. My approach
to this issue is that I always divide the assignments into two parts, one in
groups (3 or 4 students) and one in individuals. Thus, I can encourage students
to share and discuss various points of view on the same problems. Through that,
students can build the abilities of critical thinking to evaluate the pros and
cons of their solutions. Then in the later part, they have to develop the
solutions on their own, so the grading still remains objective.
Another common challenge of design classes is to
keep the balance between theories and practices. Although students have done a
lot of research related to their assignments, the final results are still
hypothesis proposals. Therefore, they cannot know how their solutions will
actually work in real life. Fortunately, I can invite some specialists in
different branches of the design industry to join my classes. They are willing
to give presentations and showroom tours to inform students about their
products and services, which are directly involved in the construction stage of
all design proposals. Based on this practical information, students can have
their own references to figure out whether their works are feasible or not.
These activities are also effective ways to build requisite connections between
future designers and potential suppliers which can result in positive career
opportunities for students.
Last but not least, students will be more committed
to study if they can apply the knowledge in classes into a wide range of
fields. Thus, I always encourage students to attend workshops and competitions
in architecture and industrial design. These realistic experiences will show
students how basic concepts can turn into abundance of different innovations.
Numerous promising scenarios of employing knowledge into reality would become
the best learning motivation for students. In addition, the creative process of
turning invisible understanding into rewardable outcomes can bring students a
lot of joys and excitements. Then, in their ways of thinking, learning is no
longer a burden but a powerful tool to obtain further achievements.
Briefly, students only thrive when they can
exchange ideas, reflect learnt knowledge into reality and have clear future
orientations. Good mentors should constantly search for creative and innovative
teaching methods to give their students all the mentioned
opportunities. (Hoa)
3. Teaching Philosophy
I have been a college English teacher in China for nearly
ten years. Most of my students are majoring in traditional Chinese medicine,
and all the students in my university are required to learn fundamentals of
Chinese medicine and diagnostics in Chinese medicine. My teaching objective is
to help them to improve their reading, writing, translating, speaking and
listening ability in English so that they can pass the band 4 and band 6
college English tests in China.
As
a teacher, I need to think about how to teach effectively. In the process of
teaching and learning, technologies should be used by both the teachers and the
students. In order to improve students’ speaking and listening ability, I show
them a lot of video clips about certain topics such as self-introduction,
exchanging greetings, describing people, talking about weather, etc. in the
computers. They try to imitate at first and then make their own conversations
with their partners. The use of computers and multimedia classrooms can make
learning easier and more interesting. I also recommend a lot of software such
as the VOA Special English app so that students can make the most of their
smartphones after class. Group work is also effective in teaching. My students
are often divided into groups and fulfill certain tasks, such as making a presentation
about how to keep healthy according to Chinese medicine. They need to collect
useful materials and create a PPT file. In this process they can learn how to
cooperate with each other and understand the importance of teamwork. Interest
is the best teacher. In order to arouse students’ interest in learning English,
I also try to combine what they learn in my class with their majors or future
jobs. I teach them a lot of affixes about medical words so they can enlarge
their vocabulary and prepare themselves for their future medical research.
Critical thinking should be emphasized in teaching and learning process.
Students are encouraged to think critically, especially students in a medical
school. If students can apply what they learn in class to solve certain
problems in the real world, I believe they can obtain that knowledge better.
For example, on one occasion, I asked my students to find out some mistakes
about English public signs in the city and correct them. After doing that, they
knew the translating methods of public signs.
I hope I can make my students
happy and successfully learn some knowledge at the same time. I am still on the
way to teaching effectively. (Lynn)
4. Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is one of
the professions that have a major impact on the building of a nation. It starts
with the transferring of knowledge from teachers to their students. The
teachers may have enormous knowledge but to deliver that in the most effective
and efficient way is an art that not every teacher knows. It is true that through experience, it is
possible to know the shortcomings; however there are some qualities that make
teachers popular among their students. It is not about being lenient in grading
and paper-setting. Actually it is the comprehending the knowledge of their
students, enabling them to more open up and reaching to students’ information
level where they can boost and sustain their motivation to learn throughout the
semester.
As a teacher I
would love to teach the courses related to computer programming and facility
layout planning. During my studies I found some of my class fellows a little
bit intimated by the programming courses. The problem was the unclear concept
of the computer compiler. So being a teacher I will show my students that the computer
is a simple machine that cannot execute a single instruction without their
help. They are as error free as their code. For strengthening their concepts I
will ask my students to write short codes in their notebooks and execute the
code line by line as if they are compilers themselves. I will demonstrate how loops go through the
variables and change their values. In homework assignments I will include the
programming of daily life applications such as digital watches to enhance their
keen to learn.
In facility
planning courses I will solve the problems on the board and also engage my
students by giving them bonus questions to answer during the lecture. I will
show them the scenarios of some already designed facility layouts without
proper planning. They will be asked to highlight the weak points of the design
and address the anticipated problems in real life. My students will not only
turn in the written assignments but also present them in front of the class to
prove their solutions correct and applicable. To create the 3D models of their
layouts I will give them liberty to use any tool they like.
In the
above-mentioned courses I will assign individual projects and a group project
to my students in the start and end of the semester respectively. In this way students will apply their skills
by their own and then solve the group project problems together. I believe in
making the foundation of students strong so that they can derivate the
mathematical models instead of cramming them. I will appreciate if they bring
the results with their own creativity and persuade them to inspire their
classmates.
Along with
learning the aspects of the course students also care about their grades. I
will have my students to appear in multiple quizzes, take-home exams, bonus
questions, midterm and final exams. It will create a chance for lagging
students to make up for the part they miss. I will always keep my doors open
for them to answer any question after the class. I will justify the deduction
of marks in their tests and prevent them making the mistakes again. I will
prefer to maintain the friendly environment in my class but shun any
rule-breaking element.
In addition, I
will ask my students to express freely how they feel about the certain method
of teaching. I believe that their feedback is the most important thing for me
to evaluate myself and work on my teaching strategies for becoming an
impressive teacher. (Fahad)
5. Teaching Philosophy
I have never had the
experience of standing in front of a class and playing the role of being a
teacher. Hopefully in the future I will, but before that I think I need a
strong and effective teaching philosophy that would make me happy seeing its
result by the end of a course. However, I want to be an English Language teacher
for non-English speakers at a university. Therefore, for such a job I believe
that a good teacher should have a lot of patience. In fact, I would say a
teacher needs much more patience, because it is a significant matter in this
profession. Other important issues are treating all the students equally, being
close and supportive to them and preparing a comfortable learning environment.
As a teacher, I would adopt the most effective teaching methods and demonstrate
them the best to fit my students’ needs, which would make their learning
experience more meaningful. I would use modern technology such as projector and
PowerPoint in the classroom instead of just using the textbooks, so that
students won’t get bored.
In some
universities in Saudi Arabia students do not regularly participate or ask
professors questions, which is wrong, but it is more like a cultural norm.
Actually this is considered as being respectful and polite with your teacher,
but for me I aspire to make an appropriate class environment, which I believe would
help the students to be able to interact with me as a teacher, be creative,
make mistakes, and ask questions.
I also believe that as a
teacher, I have to be aware of my students’ learning
styles, get to know their strengths, weaknesses, and interests, and prepare the
right activities, group work, projects, and materials that would help to
improve their learning skills. Thus, my goal is to inspire and help my students
to reach a high level of knowledge, have optimal potential in their learning
journey, and be successful in the future. (Eve)
6. Teaching Philosophy
A good teacher can
build a powerful nation by spreading knowledge to the people. It is difficult
to be a good student, and it is even more difficult to be a good teacher. It
not only involves efforts and hard work of a teacher, but also involves
communication and disseminating knowledge among the students. To me, a good
teacher is an expert in his field, knows different approaches to solve a
problem, can always make a class interactive, has good presentation skill, and
has a nice, audible voice for the students. A good teacher knows exactly what
his students expect from the class and is always ready to deliver that.
As a science
student, my favorite subject has always been mathematics. I love math and love
to teach math. From my childhood, I took math classes during each academic year
and thus built up my math knowledge. I
like to read math books with interesting problems and try to get the concepts
and solve problems using multiple mathematical perspectives. As a math teacher,
my ideal students will be those who want to understand concepts of math rather
than trying to memorize them.
I like to prepare
well before my class, take notes and be well aware of the time frame for my
lecture. In a class, I deliver concepts
of a topic first, try to give some practical examples whenever possible, and
then ask for feedback on whether the entire class has a clear idea of the topic
or not. Besides delivering my lecture, interaction with students is also
important to me. Students like a teacher who asks questions from students,
gives frequent individual and group assignments, distributes the class load
equally for the entire semester, and has a good sense of humor. At the end of a
semester, I prefer to get feedback from students about the class and my
teaching skills. That helps me to improve my skills as a teacher. (Sheik)
7. Teaching Philosophy
Believe it or not, I have been a student for almost twenty years.
During such a long time, I have learned knowledge from various teachers. Some
of them were kind and patient, but unskillful in teaching; some of them were
rigorous but encyclopedic. Everyone stands on stage shaping our future by
utilizing their own teaching philosophy. Here, I will share my thoughts with
you.
It is exciting to
be a teacher in junior high school, with a lot of challenges to face and solve.
Young people, energetic and creative, have potential to become chemists in the
future, under a prominent guidance offered by teachers.
When I learnt
chemistry, I liked the teachers who captured skills relating real life examples
to what they taught, because it is easy for audiences to start based on how
much they have already learnt, and then build upon it. Especially for the
junior, they have no idea about what exactly the chemical compounds look like,
and cannot imagine that the whole world is made up by various components,
organic and inorganic. Therefore, they need a vivid description upon what they
are going to learn. And I want to be the guide basing my own teaching
philosophy.
I would like to
assume that I am a chemistry teacher in a junior high school named “Future
Star”. At the very beginning, I will start by trying to arouse their desire by
using a brief introduction of chemistry and where it came from by adding some
historical stories (note: chemistry comes from a very old technology
“alchemy”). It will be acceptable for students, recalling interesting and magic
bedtime stories. After that, I will have them work in groups in order to better
understand knowledge. For example, figure out ten objects which are composed of
chemical substances. And we will discuss their results together, explaining and
analyzing the chemical constitution of these objects one by one. Based upon
this, they will be impressed by this magic world built by various chemical
substances. In addition, I will give them a pop quiz after one chapter finished
to push them to do some review.
To help them grasp
concepts in practice, I will assign a project, and students are required to
learn two elements in Periodic Table of Elements. Referring to handbooks and
articles is useful for them to learn chemical and physical properties,
including relevant compounds, existing status in nature, how people purify
them, when people found them, etc., and then, students will get a better
understanding when making a comparison between them.
The midterm will
have two parts. One is a presentation of the previous project. Students are
expected to show what they learnt during reading and searching. The other one
is an exam; fifty percent for each part. Besides, students will have another
two projects so that they can apply theoretical knowledge into daily life. For
example, they can “DIY” (Do It Yourself) a soap or a fruit cell. I believe
students will learn real knowledge after they work on it.
To summarize, my
class will include teamwork, quiz, homework, project and examination. For the
purpose of cooperation, teamwork affords them idea sharing and problem solving.
Quiz and homework drive them to memorize definitions and theories, paving the
road for future usage. In order to inspire students’ enthusiasm, the project is
more interesting for learning than memorizing symbols, equations and concepts.
All in all, the
young are precious deposits; teachers need to dig them using good teaching
philosophy. (Yuan)
8. Teaching Philosophy
As a teaching
assistant in the Chemical Engineering department, I had the opportunity to
teach undergraduate level Chemical Engineering courses. These courses involve
various chemical processes such as distillation column, extraction, absorption
etc. The main purpose of these courses is to teach real life phenomena of the
processes to the students.
In my opinion, one
of the most important things in teaching is to have interaction between
students and teacher. Although I have knowledge about the course, I used to
prepare myself before giving lectures. To me, a successful teacher is he who is
able to share his knowledge with his students. And in this regard, it is a
teacher’s job to engage students with the course. To do so I always try to make
the class lively. In this regard, I use several techniques such as telling
jokes in the middle of the lecture, showing some interactive videos, asking pop
questions to the students and so on.
Now, from a student’s point of view, no one
wants to do unreasonable work and he/she always wants to know the reason behind
each topic. Basically, each chapter or topic of the book is written for some
reasons. Even so, most of the students are eager to know the application first
before learning the theories. So, in my class, before starting the principles
and methods of a topic, first I teach them the real-life application and
outcome of the chapter. Besides this, in engineering, when a person can see the
mechanism of the machineries or processes he can easily comprehend the topic.
That is why before starting the topics first I show them several related
multimedia videos and 3D drawings of the processes. These techniques make the
student more enthusiastic to learn the topic. And after completing each
chapter, I used to give a group project to the student. These group projects
were designed in such a way that they would not take more than a week. These
group projects prepared and trained them to be a part of an organization or an
industry. Moreover, since the group work did not depict individual capabilities
of a student, it was also required to assess the students through several
quizzes.
In essence, my
teaching philosophy is to engage students in theoretical knowledge, real life
applications, group work and critical thinking. (Hla)
9. Teaching Philosophy
If I have a chance to teach undergraduate students
in the Atmospheric Science major, I will follow these strategies.
First of all, a teacher is a person who has more
experience than the student. So, I should give them good guidance as well as
knowledge. Undergraduate students don’t have special interest about atmospheric
science. Some just a little want to know about the weather; others select this
course by mistake. In my opinion, the teacher is a kind of leader, not a great
person. Through my whole life, I’ve got a lot of experiences. Some of them have
really helped my life; some of them have not. Based on my experiences, I can
encourage them and have sympathy with what they really want to know.
Secondly, my class will be an open-minded class. I
will not only focus on the knowledge. I would like to have my student enjoy the
class. I will teach in a very easy way. I try to avoid using difficult words,
because I want to make students feel more comfortable in my course.
Lastly, I will give them more chances to go on field
trips. Atmospheric science is closely related to the environment. So, field
trips make them think positively about their major. After the field trip, I
will make small groups and make them do presentations. Working with a small
group, they will share their feelings and knowledge together. During the
course, they realize why this major is really important our life. Students will
learn how science enriches our lives. As a result, students will have fun while
studying atmospheric science.
Following these philosophies, I will make my
students enjoy not only my class but also atmospheric science. (Jimin)
10. Teaching Philosophy
There
is a famous verse in Indian culture in Sanskrit language, “Gurur Brahma gurur Vishnu gurur devo Maheshwara, gurur sakshat
parabrahma tasmai shree guruvey namah”, meaning the teacher (guru) is the
creator (Brahma), the preserver (Vishnu) and destroyer (Shiva) and to that very
teacher I bow, for He is the Supreme Being, right before my eyes. Learning this
right at childhood I always wanted to become a teacher and just like my
teachers shape young minds. We as students respected and loved our teachers
beyond words. I always wanted to make concepts that were difficult to
understand easier to comprehend for students. What better start to achieving
this goal is there, than a chance to teach Engineering Mechanics class 101 to
fresh minds of ABC University?
I
begin my class with a generic discussion about mechanics with my students. I
try to understand, what students who haven’t yet immersed themselves in the
laws and problems of mechanics, think of the subject as. Often the innocent and
simple thoughts are provoking even to a teacher. I have observed that most of
the students think engineering mechanics is about car repairs or the complex
mechanical stuff. This is, in a way, true, so I do not discourage their answers,
but give them the actual definition of engineering mechanics through daily life
examples. These examples are so close to our life, like walking, riding a bike
uphill or downhill, riding a bike on a circular road, see-saw play, firing a
gun etc., that they cannot help but think of everything they see and wonder,
now what is the hidden mechanics of this system? Mechanics is applied physics;
all it requires is an inquisitive mind, just like those of our favorite
scientists Newton and Einstein. I often use power point slides for my lectures
but I often steer the conversation into real life examples. I also use videos
clips, which is my students’ favorite, as per the feedback, since I pull them
from famous sci-fi movies and cartoons.
Well,
once their minds are curious I explain to them all the important engineering
mechanics laws and proofs as their syllabus demands. To develop the interest I
ask students to get problems around them concerning the new laws learnt. And in
the class or during the lab time we discuss the application of laws to those
specific problems. I have tried to assign lab work for all applied physics
problems like collision of elastic bodies (law of conservation of momentum),
simple/compound pendulum, inclined plane experiment (to determine coefficient
of fiction), path of a projectile, etc. In the lab they get to solve quizzes
individually or engineering mechanics problem solving tests in groups. I focus
more on group-based problem solving since this makes them discuss formulae and
their application among themselves rather than having a teacher bombard it on
them. The groups are made in a way such that students with a lesser interest in
the topic are paired with students with more interest, thus keeping all
motivated enough. Projects are group based and very practical. I have observed
that this really pushes students to start applying their engineering minds. I
have had very successful projects which have won project competitions from the
very same class. According to a survey, students like MCQ exams more than descriptive
exams, thus I keep the exam questions multiple choice type.
As
a student I tried to do my best from the motivation I received my teachers. I
have tried to take the best practices of my professors and create an
interesting course. The overall feedback of this class and system has been good
and I intend to carry this teaching system ahead to my other classes too.
-Snigdha Kshirsagar
11. Teaching Philosophy
As an
instructor of shale mineralogy in college, I will focus on four aspects to
achieve the expected outcomes. First of all, I will fasten on group work.
Looking back to my undergraduate and graduate study, I think group work is one
of the most efficient ways that can help students to obtain and improve their
teamwork skill. There are various patterns of group work, including group
project, group presentation, etc. I will divide the students in my class into
several groups, let them read papers or theses related to shale mineralogy and
do the group presentation. I think during this process, they will face many
different kinds of problems, such as task assignment, time balancing, etc., but
they will figure out how to overcome these and finally improve their teamwork
skill.
Secondly, I
will concentrate on critical thinking. To be a critical thinker is one of the
requisites of being a qualified researcher. In order to arouse this
potentiality of my students, I will guide them to think critically, and
encourage them to point out any mistake I might make or they find while reading
any articles.
Thirdly, I
will assign the first ten to fifteen minutes of each class to be used as the
review session. I will have my students review and memorize the knowledge they
have learned after class, and the review session will help them to recall this
knowledge and deepen their memory.
Lastly, I
will give attention to the field trip. Field trip skills, such as
distinguishing different types of shale, mapping geological cross-sections of
shale, measuring strikes and dips, etc., are indispensable for every geologist.
Since I will teach the mineralogy of shale, field trips will let my students
directly touch and feel different types of shale in nature, not only in the
laboratory or just by imagining the image in their brain. I hope by this field
trip experience in my class, students could identify different types of shale
by using naked eyes and a hand lens, based on the knowledge they have learned
in class, such as different types of color, grain size, mineral compositions,
etc. (Siyu)
12. Teaching Philosophy
I always think about how to teach someone what I
have just learned. This attitude drives me to become a teacher. As a Chemical
Engineering major, I want to be an instructor of a junior class in
undergraduate. Since the way of teaching depends on students and their major, I
want to design my course in such a way that it will help students to enjoy the
class.
It is very important for instructors to have a
thorough knowledge on the subject that they want to teach. I have developed a
good communication skill with the audience. I believe that I am well prepared
for the class and I know how to teach students at their level of knowledge. I
will use both power point presentation and conventional blackboard. I will show
some interesting videos related to the class. I will demonstrate all equations
on the blackboard which are needed to solve problems. At the very beginning of class, I will give a
detailed syllabus and tentative schedule to the students. I would encourage
students to read about the topic before class begins. This prior knowledge
helps them to understand more quickly. Students are encouraged to ask any
questions during the class and also during office hours. I will encourage
students to think about topics and whether these make practical sense or not.
If they have a clear idea about a topic, they will be able to solve any related
problems in quizzes and exams. I am also aware that students are busy with
their other classes, so I want to ensure that everything will be simple and
conceptual questions. Finally, the students will be asked to do projects both
individual and group. For individual project, I will give them freedom to
select any interesting topic that they like most. I will also give a group
project so that they can work together on a problem and end up with a solution.
Students should submit a report and an oral presentation on their projects so
that they can improve their writing and public speaking skill. I will give
extra credits for asking questions after the presentation.
In
summary, I believe that my experiences, detailed demonstrations, easy and
conceptual exams, and projects will make the class very enjoyable, and
effective. I hope that students will be inspired to make Chemical Engineering
their major after taking my class. (Nazir Hossain)
13. Teaching Philosophy
Teaching
is one of the most beautiful jobs in the world. I have worked as a teacher for
eight years and during these eight years, I have taught many students from
different backgrounds and cultures. As I teach, I continue to grow and develop
and gain experience every single day. I am currently a MA student in the
Applied Linguistics department and my dream is to teach the Arabic language to
nonnative speakers of Arabic. By studying Applied Linguistics, I have gained a
better understanding of the best and most recent teaching methods present
today. As I continue to research and work with these methods of teaching, I
begin to realize my students’ needs and make adjustments based on their needs.
One
of the most important methods that I truly believe in is communicative language
teaching. One of the most important things that my students need to learn is
how to actually communicate in the real world and not just inside the
classroom. I believe in creating settings for my students in which they are
pushed to negotiate meaning and elicit pragmatic rules used in the language. I
also believe in the importance of providing my students with a large amount of
comprehensible input. In addition, I truly believe in the importance of
reading. I think that reading is a great tool for helping language learners
develop and learn a language effectively.
Furthermore,
I believe in the use of technology in the classroom. With today’s generation,
the use of technology can be used as a way to make the material presented to
the learners more interesting and more accessible. Moreover, technology allows
for a large number of opportunities for learners to interact with native
speakers of Arabic all over the world. Such opportunities place learners in interaction
that is similar to that of the real world. I also think that technology helps
teachers find an easier way to meet each of their learners’ needs.
I
also believe in group work during class time because it allows learners to
discuss and learn from each other. Also, during group work, students’ critical
thinking is encouraged and their noticing of different aspects of the language
increases. I also believe in assessing my students through engaging instruments,
such as doing group projects and completing quizzes, tasks and assignments
which push them and require them to actually use the Arabic language. I truly
think that it is important to create a positive and stress-free environment for
my students. I think that a positive environment will motivate them and help
them learn the language better.
In
addition, as a teacher, I think it is very important for me to try to find out
how my students feel about a certain method used in the classroom. I really
think that teachers should take their students’ evaluations seriously and the
teacher should try to address any problems that the students find.
Teaching
is a continuous learning process and every day new methods in the field emerge.
Thus, I think it is very important for me as a teacher to search for new and
advanced ways to help my students learn. I also believe that teachers need to
be aware of the fact that their learners’ needs change from generation to
generation and as a result these needs have to be addressed. For example,
younger students would find the use of technology to learn more interesting,
because they use technology all the time as opposed to older generations.
Because they are used to technology, they want things faster and more
accessible. (Abdullah Hidan)
14.
Teaching Philosophy
As a graduate student in the
Chemistry Department, I have been thinking about how to become a great teacher
and what is important to be a great teacher. For students, they will be very
lucky to have a great teacher when they first encounter chemistry. It’s not
only because good teachers can teach knowledge to the students, but also a
great teacher can inspire them and spawn their interest in chemistry.
Therefore, I think a great chemistry teacher should at least have two
characteristics illustrated blow.
Being a great teacher, the
most important characteristic is that he/she has a great passion for teaching.
Only with such an active passion can the teacher pass knowledge to his/her
students easily and smoothly in diverse ways. One example is explaining the
concept of oxidation-reduction reaction to students. An oxidation-reduction
reaction occurs at the molecular level, which means it’s hard for students to
imagine and perceive what exactly happens between different reagents in this
process. If the teacher has a strong motivation to explain this process to
his/her students, he/she will try all means to help students to understand it.
He/she may collect many vivid examples, use a molecular model, or show an
animation video, all of which can provide different viewpoints for the process.
The second important
characteristic that a chemistry teacher should have is ability to foster an
active atmosphere in class. Chemistry has its own emphasis: it’s an
experimental science. Based on this property, the teacher should carry out
experiments and let his/her students carefully watch these experiments, or ask
students to actively work on the experiments in groups or individually and let
them observe experimental phenomena. That is, letting students get involved in
the class is an effective method driving students to think and learn. A good
teacher should have such ability to provide students an interactive environment
for them to learn more effectively.
In sum, I think a great
chemistry teacher should have a strong motivation to teach knowledge to his/her
students. At the same time, a great chemistry teacher should create an
environment where his/her students will enjoy the course. (Yu Zhang)
15. Teaching Philosophy
I have been a teacher for 14
and a half years in China. I taught English to non-English major students. My
teaching philosophy is to motivate them to learn voluntarily. My teaching
philosophy is realized by creating bonds with my class, encouraging them and
being a good role model in language learning.
I believe people can only be
taught when they want to learn and take initiative. Motivating the students to
learn voluntarily in my class starts with creating bonds with them. I smile a
lot in my class. I prepare my lecture thoroughly. When I teach, I maintain a
lot of interaction with my class. When I call their names to answer questions,
I often call their given names. This is considered the symbol of intimacy in
China. The students trust me and they feel that I love them and care about
them.
The second step to motivate
the students to learn voluntarily is to encourage them and encourage them a
lot. When they voice their opinion or ask some questions, I always give them
some positive comments. They feel that the compliment I give to them is genuine
and sincere. When they feel valued, they will devote more to whatever they are
doing.
The third step is to be a good
role model in language learning. I often tell my students, “Even if you are not
in an English-speaking country, you can still learn English well. All you can
do is create an English surrounding on your own. So you can be exposed to
English all the time. How do you realize that? You listen to English whenever
and wherever you are. This is how I learn English well, even though I have
never been abroad.” I believe there is no better way to learn than from a
master. The students need to know the right method of learning a language. They
need the teachers who can be their friends. They need the teachers who show
them how. They need the teachers who can always be there, encourage them,
support them and, most importantly, love them. I thrive to be a teacher like
that.
In conclusion, my teaching
philosophy is to motivate my students to learn voluntarily. This teaching
philosophy results in active involvement of students in my class, good bonds
with my students and students’ great interest in learning English. (Lucy)
