My Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

I take a two-factor approach to teaching. One factor concerns the material to be taught, in terms of how to present the material in the best possible way to foster learning. My instructional style for conveying the material is deeply rooted in this factor. The second factor concerns the personal aspects of teaching, such as how to make myself approachable to the students, how to construct an environment of mutual respect for each other, and how to convey myself in a manner that reflects high expectations of the students, while at the same time giving them the sense that I deeply respect them and want to understand their point-of-view. The interaction between my instructional style and my personal style produces the final classroom experience for me and my students.

Factor One: Instructional Style
I am flexible in the instructional style I use; however, I am aware that I am best suited for the lecture-oriented teaching style. I make modifications to my lecturing style depending on the size, level, and topic of the class I teach, the institution where I teach, the make-up of students in my class (e.g., major, age, traditional/non-traditional), and the functionality of the classroom. For lower division courses where there may be a larger class size with a more heterogeneous mix of majors and ages, lecturing predominates with a focus on providing extensive examples of the concept. For upper division courses with smaller class sizes and a more homogenous student make-up, I continue to utilize the lecturing style, but would instead move the focus towards fostering classroom discussions and mutual exploration of the topic through dialogue and original readings in addition to the text. In terms of the functionality of the classroom, I use technology more often when it is easily accessible in the classroom (i.e., a “smart” classroom). I add video clips, audio clips, and photos to the PowerPoint slides whenever possible. By playing films, giving examples, and encouraging class participation, I am able to break up lecturing and keep students’ interest. Furthermore, I prefer to introduce a psychology concept myself and show original footage of classic experiments rather than showing a video clip of a psychologist in the field discussing the concept. I also like to use news clips, commercials, and movies to illustrate concepts.

However, I do not involve technology as extensively in classrooms where its use would impede my ability to move around the classroom. For example, I have taught in a classroom where the placement of the screen, the table, and the projector disallowed me from moving from one side of the classroom to the other. Furthermore, the lights could not be dimmed; the main classroom lights could only turned on or off. Consequently, students on the side opposite from where I was standing became disinterested, and due to the darkness they felt like they could talk amongst themselves without my notice. Even though this was a lower division course, I removed the technology and shifted the class towards lecturing and discussion with occasional use of the chalkboard. As a result, the educational experience significantly improved.

I am versatile in the classes that I have taught and would like to teach. I have taught Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology, and Cognitive Psychology. I would like to teach an upper-division special topics course in Neuropsychology/Brain and Behavior. I also have interest in teaching statistical methodology courses, such as Psychology Statistics, Psychometrics, and Tests and Measurements. In the future, I would enjoy teaching graduate level seminars that are theory-oriented, such as theories and models of reading.

Although I have taught a variety of levels and topics, I remain consistent in specific approaches to teaching, such as class objectives, certain topics that can be covered across classes, and the manner in which I present material. For example, I am research-oriented, thus whether the class is Cognitive Psychology or Social Psychology, I enjoy providing research examples, and I model the type of language that one uses in discussing research by stating that the research “provides support” or “suggests” or “illustrates” this concept, rather than “proves”. In all of my classes I have discussed research methodology and focused on the logic and reasoning that leads to the principle of falsifiability. Not only do I want students to understand that research findings cannot prove a theory is true, it can only prove a theory is false; but I also want them to understand the principles of logic that explain why a theory can’t be proved true. I hope that through this exercise in reasoning, students come to the conclusion that research findings don’t prove one theory is true because another theory could also explain the findings equally as well.

Through the exercise in reasoning, I touch on one of my class objectives, which is to help students to broaden their thinking and foster an ability to consider multiple explanations for behavior. I continue to touch on this objective as I discuss historical paradigms and paradigm-shifts. I teach on historical perspectives so that a student understands: (1) how we have arrived at our current state of understanding, (2) how research has been driven by different paradigms throughout history, (3) how these paradigms explain behavior, (4) and particularly I want my students to understand that each of these paradigms provides a different explanation for the same behavior. In this way, I attempt to instill in them a tendency to withhold judgment until they have considered all possible explanations for behavior and weighed each explanation with reasoning and insight.

Factor Two: Personal Style
Even though I may have more knowledge than my students, I want to treat my students as intellectual equals who have their own base of experience that can add to the learning environment in the classroom. Although some students may not come to my class with the perquisite critical thinking skills, I prefer to treat them as if they do and begin a process of instruction designed to foster their current critical thinking skills. I find that the attitude and expectation of the teacher can have a profound effect on the students. I would prefer that effect to be in the positive direction in my classroom. If I hold positive attitudes and expectations of my students, I will act in positive ways to bring out these expectations in the behavior of my students. I will treat my students like adults, and I will call my students “young men and women” rather than “kids.”

Furthermore, since I consider instruction and learning to be a collaborative process, I modify my language in the classroom by using the term “we” rather than “you.” This language reinforces the notion of intellectual equality and sends the message that their input is important. I also want to democratically include them in decisions about the class. With a sense of control over their learning environment, I believe students will feel more connected to the class and thrive in an environment in which they have helped to create.

I make an effort to appear warm, friendly, and approachable to the students. I want them to see that I enjoy teaching them, and that I am passionate about what I am teaching. I hope that the passion is contagious, and they begin to enjoy the class and find the material interesting and applicable their own lives. I feel successful when my students tell me that they have been applying what we talk about in class to what they see out in the world.

My teaching philosophy includes a mixture of formal lecturing and informal collaboration, structure and spontaneous dialogue, facts and practical application, research findings and personal examples. My ultimate goal is to foster respect for each other as well as critical thinking. I achieve this goal by respecting the students and by modeling the process of critical thinking when I present material and also when I meet one-on-one with students.