Teaching Philosophy
As a passionate teacher and learner, my teaching philosophy revolves around three major themes:
First, I believe in engaging students in their learning. Engaged students are more open to genuinely learning the material and it makes the classroom experience more fun for all of us. There are several ways I methods I used to engage students: Ensure an inclusive environment where each individual student is recognized, valued for their input, and embraced for their diversity. I often incorporate the diverse backgrounds in a way to site examples for our lessons. Ensuring a variety of teaching activities are incorporated in each lesson so that various different teaching and learning styles are covered to
engage each student for their own particular learning style. Examples of some of the activities are visual aids through videos, applied case studies, partner and group work, having students teach each other, etc. · Using current events that the students can relate to - to leverage the lesson of the week. There’s always current content that can be used to demonstrate a key learning that is interesting for students. When the students relate to the subject, they are more engaged. · Being accessible and available to the students, and showing genuine interest in their input, questions, and success. · Integrating my own experience in the learning – students often are interested to hear ‘the inside scoop’ of situations.
Secondly, I am a strong believer in building student confidence and mentoring ‘soft skills’ by incorporating opportunities each week for them to interact with each other, works in groups, and present to the class. Activities such as presentations, group work, public speaking, time management, interpersonal relationships, networking, to name a few – helps to build the confidence of students. The more the students practice, the more confident they become and I have witnessed incredible transformations from the beginning of the term to the end of the term. I have received a lot of positive feedback from students thanking me for ‘stretching them beyond their comfort zones.’
Thirdly, I believe in incorporating new technology in the teaching and learning tools. We live in a technologically wired society, and I believe teachers need to be current and relevant in communicating in today’s language that the students are so well versed in. Where ever possible and relevant, I use Discussion Boards, on-line assessment tools, and smartphones as a regular course of business.