Teaching Philosophy
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This statement grows out of my experience teaching courses in composition, communication, and as a volunteer ESL and GED writing tutor. It has also grown out of my seven years of interpersonal communication experience as a professional technical writer for Emerson Process Management.
Teaching statements often convey the sense that the writer has mastered the art of teaching. I resist that representation because I think teaching well is an ongoing process, involving consciousness of context, critical self-reflection, and willingness to continually adjust.
I believe that learning is a journey that constantly changes depending upon the context, dynamics between the students, and the openness of the instructor. Here I outline practices that have been useful for my teaching.
Showing respect for students
Through my professional experience I learned the benefits of establishing a positive relationship with each person I encounter. With my students I attempt to create a careful balance between teacher and mentor. Building a rapport with my students is important because I want them to feel comfortable asking me difficult questions, questioning the purpose of our discussions, and confident when assessing their own and their peer’s work. It is also important because I want my students to feel accountability for their work and towards our relationship, responsibility towards their learning and the learning of class, as well as thoughtfulness in producing their work.
Considering context, making classes purposeful
Students bring with them various backgrounds, experiences, and interests. Valuing the diverse backgrounds of each student is something that I try to emphasize in each of my classes. As Margaret Mead puts it, “If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” I feel that only by considering the context of the course material within the context of their professional and personal lives we can begin to reach students and enrich their learning through the context of everyday experiences, “by cultivating their own minds, in freeing themselves from immaturity and pursuing a secure course,” as Immanuel Kant references in What is Enlightenment.
Engaging in continual flexibility, change, and learning
As bell hooks states in Teaching to Transgress, I feel that “engaged pedagogy not only compels me to be constantly creative in the classroom, it also sanctions involvement with students beyond that setting. I journey with students as they progress in their lives beyond our classroom experience” (205). It is an amazing experience for me when a student engages in critical thinking, questioning their lives, rules that have been laid out before them, and clearly wants to be pushed in new directions.
In order to succeed, teachers and students need to learn, question, and adjust to new knowledge. To facilitate this process, I make reflection (be it through orally brainstorming ideas, or written reflection) a part of the learning process. I also ask for feedback from my students on how the course projects are going, discuss this feedback with them, and adjust my approach whenever appropriate.
In closing
I feel that pedagogy is a deep responsibility and “carries with it the willingness to be responsible, not to pretend that professors do not have the power to change the direction of our students’ lives” (hooks 206).
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