Approach to Teaching

        My teaching philosophy is constantly inflected by two central questions: Broadly, how might the classroom be a site of inequity and secondly, how might I approach teaching as an opportunity for students to become critical readers and assist with their engagement of their social worlds? In many ways, I believe that these two questions are remarkably intertwined, for if students begin to engage critically with the worlds they inhabit, they will begin to see how their very presence both in the classroom and beyond constitutes notions of inequity and social justice and more importantly begins to complicate their understandings of belonging.   

        Teaching shares an intrinsic symbiotic relationship with learning.  One cannot function without the other and are not static functions. Although teaching in the traditional sense can be seen as a one-way transaction between teacher and student I believe that this is not the true case of what this relationship is about.  It is in fact a multidimensional relationship where teachers need to create scaffolding for students to reach not only different levels of education but also allow them to move beyond these thresholds through their own abilities. Students allow teachers to have a window into the community that they teach in as well as giving teachers new insight into ways of empowering students to help explore, critique, understand and decide how they would like to interact with their environment.   

        I teach students how to be confident in their own abilities to attain the knowledge they need in order to pursue the paths they will eventually choose for themselves. Confidence in one’s own abilities gives the individual autonomy over not only what they choose to do in their lives, but also how to deal with unexpected circumstances they may encounter in the future. Creating a trusting and comfortable atmosphere for students in the classroom is key to achieving the successful teaching goals set out with them.   

        Engaging students in a manner that they can relate with is very important in the learning process. Although it is important to expose students to effective traditional forms of teaching, a teacher must also deliver this content through sometimes unconventional teaching methods and new forms of technology that will be able to grasp their attention and interest more effectively in the classroom.  It is extremely important to apply methods of differentiation in the classroom in order to reach the variation of students in regards to different learning levels and abilities. It is imperative that teachers be passionate about their job and to put in a full effort on a daily basis in order to properly reach their students.  The use of engaging formatives must be used on a regular basis in order to make sure teachers can assess to see if students are meeting the learning goals that have been set. 

        These formatives must be utilized multiple times during classes that do not involve marks in order to create safe place for them to learn.   Finally, I fundamentally believe that education is how one comes to know themselves and with that knowledge know that they are located within a broader sociopolitical process and relations of power.  Because I prioritize learning that takes humanity and social life seriously, I want my students to engage and be disrupted by the world they live in. For that to occur, they must have critical tools at their disposal. My teaching practice is deeply enhanced by my experiences conducting qualitative research that engages with moments of disruption in social and political life. These experiences allow for me to reflect on what is occurring at a micro level and how this translates to larger social processes. Maintaining this back and forth of my scholarly work inspires ongoing critical reflection on my own pedagogical practices.  

        I place much value in fostering a learning environment where students can develop their confidence and capacity as self-directed learners, whom also have the ability to impart and seek knowledge themselves. I believe that as much as students have to learn, they equally have much to contribute. I strive to develop strategies that go beyond the simple transmission of ideas to actively facilitating students’ learning. One of the questions that foregrounds my teaching is: How do we come to know what we know? This question is central to disrupting the idea that I, as a teacher, am imparting “knowledge” and “truth” as the designated “expert”. Rather, together we begin to question what we know around a specific topic and how we know it and this reflexive work shifts students’ didactic understanding of learning to one where they become empowered as one who accepts that they too have something to give and share with others. This also fundamentally allows students to engage with how knowledge is produced and in doing so, produces an engagement with the inequities that surround its production.   

        Complicating this idea of knowledge production requires drawing out students’ prior understandings so that these may be developed and challenged. Strategies such as reflective journaling or guided deconstructions of media texts, sporting events and popular culture can help students to identify and question their own assumptions through dialogue with others. I strive to relate critical theory to students’ existing knowledge through learning activities that recognize and build upon the diverse histories and experiences they bring to the classroom. Such activities also create opportunities for discussing how knowledge is mediated by social positioning, and thus shaped by relations of power.   

        A pedagogic philosophy such as mine demands that my teaching style be highly interactive, engaging students in a dialogue, and often putting students into conversation with each other either through their writing or orally. I strive to structure my teaching around my students’ needs, desires and curiosities, rather than the demands of a particular concept or text. When I develop a syllabus or a lesson plan, for example, I always begin by asking myself what my students should know and be able to do at the end of the class, and then move on to designing the actual class content. 

        For the most part I have integrated different forms of technology in my teaching through online forums such as D2L, Moodle and Edmodo.  I do this in order to keep my students connected to any content they have missed during class and gives each student an opportunity to revisit any lecture notes, pictures, videos, and PowerPoint presentations used in the classroom.  I have also used these forums to create virtual study groups where students are able to bounce ideas and concepts off of each other outside of the classroom and in an online setting that allow socially introverted are able to have a voice.  It is also a great way to send out message blasts to keep students informed and up to date with current events and allows them to share class related material that they have found on their own promoting an opportunity for students to contribute to the educational process.