The following beliefs about teaching and education guide my teaching.
- My overall goal is to help students to receive and express good ideas in English.
- In my classes, they receive good ideas through quality literature and articles, provocative lectures, and personal interaction with classmates and me.
- They improve their ability to express good ideas by making presentations, writing papers, giving critiques, and receiving constructive feedback.
- To improve their ability to receive and express good ideas, I help students develop oral and written language proficiency, creativity, analytical ability, and critical thinking.
- Students are responsible for their own learning which I must encourage and passionately facilitate.
- Students learn best when they ask questions and explore answers themselves. This process can be challenging and frustrating, so I must help and encourage students along with way with positive and honest feedback.
- Students are never blank slates. They always have experiences and assumptions that can both help them and hinder them. I can help students build on past knowledge and revise faulty assumptions.
- Students have a lot more power than they generally think they do. Awakening this power means I must be prepared to revise their own assumptions.
- Every student is unique and can reveal to others (including classmates and teachers) valuable perspectives and insights. Every student has a lot of offer others.
- Students need to be provoked, challenged, and confronted, and the sooner they can have enough confidence to enjoy this process, the better.
- Students need to understand what is expected of them. I can help this happen by
- providing clear, detailed, and easily accessible instructions.
- providing quick feedback on assignments early in the term.
- providing study materials for exams.
- providing an explanation of my grading system.
- providing further resources to help them with their writing.
- For any real learning to take place, students must be able to connect what they are learning to their lives. I can encourage students to make these connections by rewarding their efforts and offering my own examples.
- Knowing students on a personal level, even if only a little, helps me build rapport and know how to direct them individually.
- As a teacher, I am also a student but with more expertise. I can help students see themselves as teachers as they share valuable knowledge and insights with others.
- I need to be aware of individual student needs and readily assist diverse students in their progress.
- I must approach teaching with humility realizing that my “teaching” may not always help all students learn. And many students can learn well without formal teaching. In fact, the more students are able to teach themselves, the better.
- Like my students, I also need to be provoked, challenged, confronted, and reminded.
- Teaching and learning are both enjoyable activities when done well. When done poorly, they can be frustrating, but can still lead to valuable experiences.
- Learning is life long, and past knowledge can always be revised to incorporate new ideas and perspectives.