Teachers who have a vision of democratic education assume that learning is never confined solely to an institutionalised classroom. Rather than embodying the conventional false assumption that the university setting is not the ‘real world’ and teaching accordingly, the democratic educator breaks through the false construction of the corporate university as set apart from real life and seeks to re-envision schooling as always a part of our real world experience, and our real life. – bell hooks, Teaching community : a pedagogy of hope
My approach to teaching is informed by two areas of interest: social justice education and community. I hope to create a supportive and encouraging environment in my classes by keeping social justice at the forefront – acknowledging and appropriately challenging prejudiced or hurtful statements in a way that allows a student to learn and grow from the experience. The assignments and projects students complete will also reflect my desire for students to learn about different viewpoints and most of all, learning how to be comfortable in their discomfort at the growth process.
As a former student affairs practitioner, I had the opportunity to work closely with undergraduate and graduate students in residence halls. I taught students in formal and informal environments – from classroom lectures to community building physical activities outside on a field. I come to the field of Information Studies from the perspective of understanding how students develop throughout their time in college and graduate school and hope to put my knowledge of both student development as well as social communities and media to work as an instructor in the classroom, be it face to face or virtual.
Community is comprised of the people making up the environment in which we learn – the classroom, the university, and the world. Students come together to learn about a topic, but they will learn much more about why the course, the lesson, the reading, or the assignment matters in their world. One colloquial definition of community is “coming together to join in the unity.” I hope to create a learning environment that is supportive, understanding, friendly, and most importantly, invested in not only the students’ own growth and learning, but in the growth and learning of their classmates, their fellow community members.
My overall teaching philosophy is based on and adapted from Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson’s The Seven Principles for Good Practice In Undergraduate Education (1987):
Student-Faculty Contact. One of my core beliefs as an educator is that the majority of learning comes from outside the classroom – the living environments, workplace environments, and communities in which students spend the majority of their time. Therefore, it is important that I model behavior to help students attain an appropriate balance between life and educational activities by setting expectations for e-mail contact and office hours. Maintaining an appropriate work-life balance is not only vital to each student’s educational success, but is also a lifelong skill to master. I strive to remain connected with my students for the duration of the course and use my experience as a student affairs practitioner to this end.
Cooperation Among Students. To me, teaching is not strictly a hierarchical procedure where the instructor imparts knowledge for students to absorb. My goal is to encourage students to learn from and teach each other. Furthermore, through working with each other students learning how to interpret others’ actions, work with those who have different learning styles and above all else, understand others’ viewpoints and life experiences.
Active Learning. The assignments and projects that students complete in classes that I teach are designed to demonstrate not only that the students understand the material, but can actively apply it in their lives. My goal is to teach through facilitation. In my classes, students work in small groups, write reflectively on what they have learned, discuss key topics through conversation (not a lecture), and put the theoretical and conceptual knowledge and skills that they obtain into practice with activities and projects.
Prompt Feedback. Students cannot learn from me if they don’t receive feedback regularly and in a timely manner, nor can I learn from them if I don’t receive feedback from them about their learning in the course. My goal is to provide frequent opportunities for students to provide feedback to me as their instructor, and for me to provide feedback to them so they know how they are performing in the class.
Timeliness. Today’s students come from lives complete with intersecting worlds and needs. It is important that I recognize that students have diverse and sometimes conflicting responsibilities, and that my expectations for timely completion are realistic and clearly communicated.
Expectations. As an instructor it is important for me to set clearly defined expectations. I want my students to understand exactly what it means to earn a satisfactory or above average grade, I want my students to understand what “participation” means in the learning environments I design, and I want to give my students every chance to succeed. Students need to know what they’ll be expected to know, how they’ll be expected to perform and contribute, how they will be given feedback, and how they can give feedback to me.
Differing Learning Styles. My goal as an educator is to make sure that each student, regardless of his or her strength as a student, has the opportunity to learn. What this means to me is that the assignments, projects and lessons I plan should address a wide variety of learning styles. This is important since it not only means that all students have equal opportunity to succeed, but also that students learn how to address a variety of learning styles in their interactions with others as well. I plan to develop interactive assignments and projects, in addition to having students write papers. I will create a media-rich environment including material and presentations prepared by students and guest instructors to address a wide variety of learning styles and skills.
References
Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraudate Education. AAHE Bulletin, March 1987. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm
hooks, b. (2003). Teaching community : a pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge.
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