My Teaching
Philosophy
As a first generation American I was raised by a single mom who came to the United States as a nurse. She taught me one of life’s cornerstones was to have a tremendous work ethic. I applied this to my schoolwork, but I also needed the self-esteem to become an exemplary student. My 4th grade teacher, Ms. Moats piqued my interest in education because of her energy and genuine interest in my success. This bolstered my self-confidence.
When I embarked on a teaching career, I wanted to have the positive impact on my students like Ms. Moats had on me. There is something incredibly special when you see the light in a student’s eyes when they finally understand a concept or an idea. The joy of helping students learn keeps me motivated in the classroom. Once a person makes the commitment to enroll in college, there is a willingness to learn. It is up to me to capture their attention and be an effective teacher. One of the ways I do this is by trying to build student-teacher relationships by meeting students during office hours to help clarify learning objectives.
Students learn in different ways and as their teacher, it is my responsibility to find intriguing pathways that best help each student to understand. I always ensure the learning objectives reflect differing learning styles and utilize varying teaching methods that appeal to any dynamic class. One reliable strategy used is increasing students’ independence. Although I provide students with clear learning goals, it is important to tie learning to personal interests; I permit students to select their own topics for reading assignments and group presentations, so they can fully participate in creating their own learning methods.
In order to encourage deep thinking, I want the student to be at the center of their learning. I encourage students to do reflective journal assignments and blogs to help students critically reflect on learning resources as well as their perspective on the relevance of the material in the environment. I believe if a student does not think a concept is applicable to real world situations, they will not use it. I also encourage peer to peer teaching, so I create small groups of three or four students to answer questions, ensuring all students have an opportunity to participate and learn among themselves. This allows for debate and enriched and engaged learning.
Part of my mission is to expose students to the universality of a subject matter. Through my teaching, I create a “world-sized classroom”, giving students access to social work practice and policy and social justice challenges, beyond their own community, and with our global neighbors. I accomplish this by taking students on field site visits so they can have a realistic account of theoretical concepts. I also utilize visual technology to expose students to universal social problems and opportunities for change. I am able to give students insights into international social work practice which places them in a global arena while exploring the specificity of useful social work skills across international settings.
It is important to prepare students with skills in the social work field by sharpening their problem-solving skills. I use problem-based teaching methods which employ real-world situations, to sharpen their problem solving and critical thinking skills. As their teacher, my responsibility is to breakdown complex human conditions into manageable pieces to develop their understanding and help them apply these ideas competently. I also encourage in-class participation by setting up competition games to solve case studies. I am always amazed how students work collaboratively to complete these unorthodox assignments.
I am preparing the future global professionals who is adaptable and reflexive to any environment. I am a facilitator who promotes self-learning so students can retain knowledge and develop skills-set that leads to self-actualization. I engage in different teaching methods to help students learn and understand concepts more efficiently. I utilize various technology platforms for online assignments for autonomous learning. I use problem-based teaching, group projects and written assignments to enhance critical thinking skills. I use individual tutorials to improve students’ literacy. I am always accommodating to students’ needs because I know students are my number one customer and if they did not learn, I did not do my job.
As a teacher I believe it is imperative to constantly improve and create an engaging learning environment for my students. My teaching objectives and goals include:
When I embarked on a teaching career, I wanted to have the positive impact on my students like Ms. Moats had on me. There is something incredibly special when you see the light in a student’s eyes when they finally understand a concept or an idea. The joy of helping students learn keeps me motivated in the classroom. Once a person makes the commitment to enroll in college, there is a willingness to learn. It is up to me to capture their attention and be an effective teacher. One of the ways I do this is by trying to build student-teacher relationships by meeting students during office hours to help clarify learning objectives.
Students learn in different ways and as their teacher, it is my responsibility to find intriguing pathways that best help each student to understand. I always ensure the learning objectives reflect differing learning styles and utilize varying teaching methods that appeal to any dynamic class. One reliable strategy used is increasing students’ independence. Although I provide students with clear learning goals, it is important to tie learning to personal interests; I permit students to select their own topics for reading assignments and group presentations, so they can fully participate in creating their own learning methods.
In order to encourage deep thinking, I want the student to be at the center of their learning. I encourage students to do reflective journal assignments and blogs to help students critically reflect on learning resources as well as their perspective on the relevance of the material in the environment. I believe if a student does not think a concept is applicable to real world situations, they will not use it. I also encourage peer to peer teaching, so I create small groups of three or four students to answer questions, ensuring all students have an opportunity to participate and learn among themselves. This allows for debate and enriched and engaged learning.
Part of my mission is to expose students to the universality of a subject matter. Through my teaching, I create a “world-sized classroom”, giving students access to social work practice and policy and social justice challenges, beyond their own community, and with our global neighbors. I accomplish this by taking students on field site visits so they can have a realistic account of theoretical concepts. I also utilize visual technology to expose students to universal social problems and opportunities for change. I am able to give students insights into international social work practice which places them in a global arena while exploring the specificity of useful social work skills across international settings.
It is important to prepare students with skills in the social work field by sharpening their problem-solving skills. I use problem-based teaching methods which employ real-world situations, to sharpen their problem solving and critical thinking skills. As their teacher, my responsibility is to breakdown complex human conditions into manageable pieces to develop their understanding and help them apply these ideas competently. I also encourage in-class participation by setting up competition games to solve case studies. I am always amazed how students work collaboratively to complete these unorthodox assignments.
I am preparing the future global professionals who is adaptable and reflexive to any environment. I am a facilitator who promotes self-learning so students can retain knowledge and develop skills-set that leads to self-actualization. I engage in different teaching methods to help students learn and understand concepts more efficiently. I utilize various technology platforms for online assignments for autonomous learning. I use problem-based teaching, group projects and written assignments to enhance critical thinking skills. I use individual tutorials to improve students’ literacy. I am always accommodating to students’ needs because I know students are my number one customer and if they did not learn, I did not do my job.
As a teacher I believe it is imperative to constantly improve and create an engaging learning environment for my students. My teaching objectives and goals include:
- Strengthening student engagement through relevant and thought-provoking topics
- Expanding students’ knowledge by exposing them to globally relevant social work skills
- Enriching students’ learning experiences with multiple teaching modalities
- Management of class time with effective execution of class activities