Extended Blog: Teaching Philosophy

Extended Teaching Blog

My teaching philosophy/pedagogical style can be broken down into four parts: classroom structuring, activities, out of classroom, and “mechanics.”

Classroom Structure

My teaching is student-centered. In my classes, I use a variety of classroom “structures,” including whole group discussion, small group, and lecture. I feel that a student-centered classroom is essential; it gives the students the feedback of up to twenty-two people instead of just one and allows the students to learn from people who are more “on their level.” A lot of my class sessions alternate between whole group and small group work – I don’t like for the students to work on a single in class activity for too long. I use lecture sparingly because I feel it lends itself to Freiere’s banking method of learning which I see as pointless. I use lecture only to introduce a totally new topic to them, or if I feel that they will benefit from writing down the information.

Activities

In addition to the generalized organization of my classes, I have a few activities that are utilized regularly and are therefore worthy of mention as part of my teaching philosophy. Once a week, I have my students complete a “critical response.” This involves putting a quote on the board, or an advertisement on the overhead, or song lyrics and having the students respond in writing. Sometimes I give them questions and sometimes I simply told them to write for ten minutes without stopping on the topic. Then we would discuss their answers as a whole class, allowing them to have something prepared to say before facing the “embarrassment” of talking in front of the class. I feel that most students come to college without their own opinions and without much in the way of critical thinking skills, both of which seem to improve over the semester with this activity.

The other regular activities of note relate to revision – small group conferences and in class peer editing. While these are both forms of small group they worthy of a separate discussion. I was against small group conferences at the beginning of the semester. I saw no point in them, and only held them because my syllabus from August had not been altered to exclude them. But I held them for the annotated bibliography and found that my students produced better papers because they got feedback from me and their fellow students at an earlier stage of the writing process than they did with normal workshops. And I believe that peer editing is vital to student composition at the beginning level. I usually put students in groups of three, so that their papers are read twice. The first person reads for content and to see if they are “getting their point across,” and the second person reads for mechanics such as grammar and punctuation.

Prep Work/Out of Class

Part of my teaching philosophy includes what goes on outside of the classroom. I always overplan my lessons, in case an activity bombs or my students “get” a concept more quickly than I expect them to do. My grading philosophy includes an attempt at a one week turnaround with papers. I tell them (both in person and on their syllabus) to expect a two week turnaround, but I remember what it is like to be awaiting judgment on something that I worked very hard on. I use my syllabus as a contract and a way to put some of the responsibility back on the students. I used to make a syllabus when I taught high school but the importance of it at the collegiate level is much higher, and I hold my students to the policies and assignment discussed on it. I also expect them to hold me to my policies etcetera as they are written in the syllabus.

“Mechanics”

I use the term “mechanics” to describe the physical layout of the classroom and technology. The layout of the classroom affects how different activities run. For example, I put the class into a large circle for full group discussion and presentations, with desks facing for small group work, and rows for lecture and tests. Many classes my students will move their desks from one layout to another as “mixing it up” keeps their attention.

As far as technology, it is a part of my teaching philosophy, but not the basis of it. I require that students have a school email and are registered for Blackboard. I send out announcements about class changes and other vital information through email, and I post grades and copies of assignment sheets on Blackboard; both of these actions are a means to give students more responsibility for their own education. I use an overhead projector to give the occasional lecture notes.