My Teaching Philosophy
The teachers we have in our lives can have a great impact on how it unfolds. That has certainly been the case for me in my life as I have had several teachers and mentors that have helped me to find my interests and accomplish my goals. Consequently, I am a strong believer in the idea that having effective teachers leads to lifelong learning, and lifelong learning leads to continued personal growth and fulfillment across one’s lifetime. However, it is not easy to pinpoint what exactly makes a teacher effective. Therefore, I find it important to reflect often on my own teaching style and to think back on the teachers that have had an influence on my life as I strive every day to be an effective teacher. Some of the qualities I have continuously come back to are creating a student-centered classroom, being organized and accessible, encouraging learning inside and outside of the classroom, and, as the world continues to change, implementing technology into the learning process.
By creating a student-centered classroom, I hope to establish an environment where students are engaged and actively involved in the learning process, rather than passively absorbing information. I work towards this goal because I know that I have always learned better when I am actively doing something. Therefore, I value spending time in class on group discussion and try to work in activities that involve hands-on learning. Additionally, I encourage class participation, and I devote time to collaboration, as I believe that students can learn a lot not only from me as their teacher but also from each other.
While I strive to create a student-centered classroom, I also understand that I am the one ultimately in charge of the class and am responsible for making sure it runs smoothly and that my students are learning. Therefore, I consider course preparation and organization to be of the utmost importance to effective teaching. Students should know what they can expect of me, but also, what I expect of them. That is not to say that I do not believe in adjustment and revision, as every class is different, and there are always ways to improve. I also understand that not everyone learns the same way or in the same amount of time. Therefore, I endeavor to create an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and sharing their own ideas during class. As an introvert myself, I also know that not all students may feel comfortable voicing their ideas and questions in front of the whole class. For this reason, I hope to make myself accessible and non-intimidating so students feel they can come speak with me during my office hours or by appointment.
I also believe that learning should not just be something that happens in the classroom but something that we should work to do every day of our lives. Through learning, we understand more about ourselves, the people around us, and the rest of the world. In keeping with this idea, where possible, I like to add activities that allow students to investigate their own interests related to the course. Additionally, I value activities that require students to interact with people out in the community or to learn more about the world outside of their own lives.
Technology is a great tool to help with accomplishing the above goals. As I progressed as a student and now as a teacher, technology has only continued developing, and I feel I must be prepared to continue learning along with it. I believe technology can help to effectively convey ideas and information to students, can ease communication, and can, in general, make knowledge more accessible. While I do believe in the merits of doing certain things “the old way” especially to understand how and why we do certain things today, I also believe that I must be able to effectively use technology to facilitate learning and help prepare my students for the world after my course and after obtaining their degrees.
When it comes to teaching Spanish and Dutch, I believe the most important idea I can convey to my students is that learning a second language is not easy. It takes time, dedication, and, above all, practice. As a second-language learner myself, I appreciate the difficulties that learning another language later in life entails, and I still continue to work every day on practicing and improving my communicative abilities. Learning another language is a great undertaking, but the benefits are worth it, as it allows you to communicate with and better understand even more people.
When it comes to linguistics, I believe one of the first things I learned in all of the classes I have ever had on it is probably the most important for students to understand about this discipline. One of linguistics’s main tenets is to be descriptive rather than prescriptive, to describe what is actually happening in a language and how people are actually using it, rather than saying how people should use it. Language at its heart is a way for people to communicate their thoughts and ideas with other people, and linguists believe that the different ways people achieve that should be studied and appreciated. This idea of being descriptive rather than prescriptive, I feel, also holds true in both the classroom and in life. By being descriptive rather than prescriptive, we encourage and celebrate diversity and instill a sense of tolerance in ourselves and the people around us. Linguistics, as a science, seeks to understand, and as a teacher, I hope to effectively help my students to better understand language, themselves, and the world around them.