My Philosophy of Teaching and Learning
My teaching philosophy is that all learning experiences should be fun and exciting, but if it is not, the teaching modality needs to obtain and adapt new strategies, whether groups, game playing, behaviors, model test cases, or lecture-discussion combinations that provide variety to the lecture model. Moreover, my teaching philosophy is built on using my knowledge of students’ individual learning styles in order to creatively provide a fundamental base of core knowledge for students to build upon during their academic and future professional careers, and to assist my students in developing the ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations. However, I believe that each student is a unique individual who needs to be guided, tended, and provided a motivating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my job as an instructor to help students meet their maximum potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invites a sharing of ideas. There are three elements that I believe are beneficial to establishing such an environment: the instructor acting as a guide, allowing the student’s natural curiosity to direct his/her learning, and encouraging respect for everything and everyone.
I also believe that:
My teaching philosophy is that all learning experiences should be fun and exciting, but if it is not, the teaching modality needs to obtain and adapt new strategies, whether groups, game playing, behaviors, model test cases, or lecture-discussion combinations that provide variety to the lecture model. Moreover, my teaching philosophy is built on using my knowledge of students’ individual learning styles in order to creatively provide a fundamental base of core knowledge for students to build upon during their academic and future professional careers, and to assist my students in developing the ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations. However, I believe that each student is a unique individual who needs to be guided, tended, and provided a motivating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my job as an instructor to help students meet their maximum potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invites a sharing of ideas. There are three elements that I believe are beneficial to establishing such an environment: the instructor acting as a guide, allowing the student’s natural curiosity to direct his/her learning, and encouraging respect for everything and everyone.
I also believe that:
- Teachers must take the role of facilitator and mentor instead of role of the hero above the platform, allowing students to control the content and gain experience and integration actively in the educational learning process
- Teachers model learning and thinking in an analytical way as a vehicle to develop student analytical learning and thinking.
- Give students the skills that will help them to see things according to proper relations and their relative importance.
- Motivate students to outstanding scientific production and try to make the learning process more enjoyable.
- Link their learning and curriculum subjects material to their practical life.
- Engage students in discussions in order to encourage them to express their views and develop their analytical skills.
- Enhance the supply of knowledge of the student throughout the learning period.
- Give the learner clear instruction information that may help or guide to establish his or her learning ability.
- Teaching is both a skill and an art, and requires not just professional abilities but also personality characteristics of compassion, passion for one’s work and a deep caring for students as people.
Instructors from my Phd. program
Dr. Chris Kyser
Assistant Professor, Educational Technology School of Teacher Education University of Northern Colorado, McKee 510 [email protected] office phone: (970) 351-1114 |
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Dr. Mia Kim Williams
Associate Professor, Curriculum Studies and Technology Teacher Education College of Education and Behavioral Sciences University of Northern Colorado McKee Hall 267 Greeley, CO 80639 office: 970-351-2414 - [email protected] |