My philosophy of education is that everyone is unique and each student, teacher, principal, faculty member has something to bring into the classroom. Teaching and learning evolve around diversity.
Learning is different for everyone. There are seven main types of learners in the classroom, that being; auditory and musical learners, visual and spatial learners, verbal learners, logical and mathematical learners, social and interpersonal learners, and solitary and interpersonal learners. Being a teacher, it is important to implement different techniques to support my students. In the classroom, I will provide a comfortable, safe, respectful space to allow students to feel comfortable to participate and engage with the course content. I will provide a variety of unique resources tailored to the individual needs of students. Activities will range from worksheets, videos, music, games, and selections of texts.
Facilitating interactive learning in the classroom can be tricky, especially in an online environment. During my practicum, I have used resources to create content that is engaging and relatable to student’s experiences and interests. Going forward, I will make students learning experiences unique by bringing in guest speakers, incorporating videos, reading activities, worksheets, games, and textbook activities to facilitate an interactive learning environment. I will also draw upon student experiences and provide the opportunity for students to bring in resources to facilitate and enhance their learning experience. Asking for feedback and providing checkpoints for comprehension of the course material will allow me to reflect and alter if needed, the course content and activities to ensure students are getting the most out of their education.
Creating goals and having students strive to reach for their goals is very important to me. I will have students reflect on what they have achieved and how much progress they have made throughout the academic term. Self-reflection is very important for being confident, for developing, and for being successful. I want students to be able to see their progress and to always continue developing new skills. I challenge my students to set goals frequently and to continue developing new passions and experiences in life. I encourage my students to be lifelong learners.
I teach the way that I do because I know what it is like to be a student. I know how exciting it can be to learn new material. I know how strenuous it can be during mid-term and final exam week and I know how tiresome it can be learning through an online environment. I have developed and applied skills accordingly to the experiences we have been faced with in the classroom.
I enjoy seeing active participation, discussion, and challenges amongst students. I want my students to succeed and understand the course content to apply the skills they have learned to their everyday lives. Teaching the way I do, allows this to happen. I prepare students for their next step, I encourage students to build connections with one another and to work in a team setting. Most importantly, I provide time for students to self-reflect and to learn from their mistakes, allowing them to grow from their experiences.
Using a variety of resources and student feedback is how I can implement and innovate new ideas about teaching and learning in the classroom. During my practicum at Thompson Rivers University, I used a variety of resources such as games, worksheets, videos, breakout room activities, and station rotations. Students learned a new activity or a new game that they are now able to bring forward to their family, friends, and coworkers. When students felt challenged, they were able to ask their peers for support, leading to a discussion, and eventually being successful in solving that problem. Over the months of my teaching practicum, I was able to see my students transform. Students felt more comfortable with each other, themselves, and with me as their teacher. Students learned to develop the confidence needed when presenting their answers. Students were able to provide valuable feedback to me as a teacher to enhance their learning experience.
Having seen the development of my students in the classroom provides reassurance that the techniques I am using have been working. I have seen confidence, active participation, amazing group discussions, and most importantly I have seen support through all of my students. Providing closing activities at the end of each class allows me to connect and give feedback to each student on a personal level. During the final weeks of classes, I began to notice more depth with few to no errors in the student’s responses when doing the closing activities. Teaching through an online environment, I have encouraged students to develop a friendship and to share their learning experience and to bring in topics and ideas that they are passionate about. I have personally witnessed this connection between students during breakout room activities.
I strongly believe that my students are meeting the goals because I can see the work my students are devoting to their activities. Going through the answers to worksheet activities and closing activities, there are minor errors, sometimes there are no errors! Students are understanding what is being taught to them and their answers are going more in-depth. More importantly, the students have gained the confidence to speak English to their peers. An example of this was during my final practicum class. During the reading comprehension activity, I had several students volunteer to read the selection of text out loud to their peers. At the beginning of the semester, I was often picking on students to provide answers and to read a sentence out loud, the students did not have the confidence and they did not feel comfortable with their peers or teacher. However, over time, I was able to build that trustworthy, respectful relationship with my students providing reassurance that the classroom is a safe learning environment. As students felt safer, I saw the participation become more voluntary and students felt comfortable reading large sections of text and presenting their answers.
Being a lifelong learner, I will continue growing as an individual, as a co-worker, as a role model, and as a teacher. While teaching, I will provide the very best learning tools for the success of my students. I will continue practicing and developing new skills and using different, unique resources that can be tailored to student’s individual needs. Having a passion for teaching abroad will allow me to incorporate diversity in the classroom. Having to innovate new ideas to each country’s curriculum and use the resources available will allow me to develop strategies to teach many students from all over the world at different levels. I will continue exploring new cultures and languages and I will bring these experiences into the classroom. Even though I am classified as the teacher and my students are learning from me, I will always be learning from my students.