As always, the gap between theory and praxis can be difficult to bridge. In the fall of 2012, I worked as teaching assistant in the School of Continuing Studies. One week I taught a lesson on A River Sutra by Gita Mehta; I was convinced that our class discussions had been lacking a certain critical perspective and, perhaps subconsciously, my lesson was constructed to convince the students of the correctness of my position. Although I adequately conveyed my point, I left that lesson feeling that despite the student’s polite attention something was missing. In focusing solely on relaying information I had missed my chance to make the lesson relevant to students by connecting it to an active learning experience and the course goals. As I look forward to my own classroom I know that aligning my learning goals with classroom activities will truly create a more student-centered classroom.
To view the rest of my Teaching Philosophy, please click here.
In the spring semester of 2012 I attended a syllabus design workshop that changed my perspective not only about syllabi but also changed how I think about deliberately designing an effective classroom. The workshop focused on the principle of “backwards design”— instead of starting a syllabus with the readings and simply putting them in order, the director urged attendees to begin by composing a list of goals and objectives they wanted students to be able to perform at the end of the course. He suggested that when teachers would provide more successful learning experiences for students when their goals aligned with their readings, assessments, and classroom activities. During this workshop I realized that my goal of creating a student-centered classroom required more than minimizing lectures and integrating workshops. In practice, teaching in a student-centered classroom means more than relaying information; instead it means helping students achieve tangible goals.
This Teaching Philosophy provides a brief overview of some of the practices that I hope to implement in my own classroom. In it, I also discuss experiences that have helped shape my view of praxis with a focus on the writing classroom. Below I provide the first two paragraphs of my statement. You can download the full statement further down the page.