TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
“Good teachers … are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves.” (Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach)
Parker Palmer’s ideas about teachers, subjects, and learning capture what is, to me at least, the heart of education. As a teacher, I teach from who I am about a subject for which I care deeply and in a way that is meaningful, useful, and respectful to students.
The Student
The student is the reason that I teach. With students as the focus of the teacher-learner-subject interrelation, I develop a student learning environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.
In both the physical classroom and online learning spaces, I create a welcoming and respectful environment. The welcome begins with my initial communication with students, either in person or in a beginning of term communication, where I introduce myself and the course to them, as well as call them (as accurately as possible) by name. As a language teacher, I recognize the connection between culture, language, and social identity, but I do not give students English names unless they request one, and I learn and respect what they choose to share of themselves in the integrity of the teacher-learner-class situation.
Meaningful collaborative learning tasks and projects further promote a welcoming learning community. In face-to-face classes, I use cooperative learning and related approaches to maximize student engagement and application. In online and hybrid classes, I also use threaded asynchronous and synchronous discussions, shared documents (and wikis), and collaborative projects that promote community development. Projects and tasks usually culminate in publicly shared language products—in the form of portfolios, publications, and presentations—that support student voices and allow for diversity in expression and perspective. Most of the classes–both digital and analog–that I teach involve diverse student groups, so effective intercultural communication skills are embedded into tasks and projects.
The Teacher
As a teacher of writing and language, I learn constantly. I grow in understanding by listening to the students and colleagues I work with, as well as to the schools and broader social context where we work and study; I value and learn their languages and cultures. I also grow in knowledge and skill by engaging in professional communities of practice and research–as a facilitator or as a participant–welcoming insights gained through shared observations and discussions, as well as shared texts and ideas. I teach with integrity, bringing my whole self into the teaching and learning process. My teaching is not primarily a performance but, as Palmer suggests, a connection of myself—as an individual with extensive teaching, learning, and other experiences—the subject, and the students resulting in progressive understanding and transformation.
I learn by planning, execution, and reflection. Creating a successful class begins the understanding of the goals and expectations of the institution, the specific program, and the students. So I begin with a framework for the class that addresses required institutional outcomes, builds on my strengths as a teacher, and allows for the student voice to help shape the direction of the course. I incorporate reflection and evaluation into my weekly schedule as I review student learning experiences and performance, eliciting student feedback through classroom assessment techniques and reflective activities, and engaging in research, as appropriate, into student success beyond the language classroom in their academic and professional careers. I provide students with timely feedback based on a range of informal and formal formative and summative assessments, using clearly defined rubrics and assessment instruments.
The Subject
I create authentic and meaningful learning opportunities for students. Where possible, I align student learning with the conventions and expectations of the social, academic, and professional contexts where they use the language, employing real-world texts and activities as much as possible to bridge the expectations of the language classroom and other academic and professional environments. I also provide students other experiences and resources for language learning and language use according to their extracurricular interests, to maintain student interest and motivation in class content. At times, I provide students a context for learning that provides meaningful service to others outside the context of the classroom.
Adult learning, and higher education specifically, can encompass a wide range of learning situations, topics and experiences. But the specific content taught depends on the institutional and social learning expectations. As an American teacher of English and writing, I am most familiar with the patterns of discourse and presentation of ideas appropriate for an American context but less useful in an international one. In my experiences of teaching in the United States and China, and travelling to other parts of the world, I have found that providing students with content and learning experiences that prepare them for appropriately speaking and writing in English to an international audience enhances their intrinsic motivation to continue learning beyond the classroom.
Finally, my teaching and learning experiences have provided me with resources to share with and learn from fellow teachers, whether novice or veteran, and contribute to our shared expertise in the language teaching craft. In both pre-service and professional development training capacities, I share effective techniques, best practices, and appropriate theories to help advance the language teaching profession.