Teaching philosophy

From Job searchs in the past:
From my dossier:

I entered my courses at SSU blending my pedagogical and philosophical goals along with the needs of SSU and North Shore Boston culture. The core of my educational beliefs revolves around:

·         Experiential education: A hands on, minds on philosophy, where the students engage in authentic problem solving, models of teaching, and critical thinking.

·         Social constructivism: A scaffolding approach used to teach concepts, where I build upon students' prior knowledge. Peer communication, dyad's, team work, group work, and interaction are at the cornerstone of my teaching style, consistent with the social construction of knowledge.

·         Integration of technology: I use a technological approach to facilitate communication with and among students. Students integrate new technology in their performance assessments, while increasing their comfort level with new developments in the technological field.

·         Model lifelong learning: I am enthusiastically committed to the profession of teaching, and I continuously learn new instructional strategies as I deepen my knowledge of the course content.

·         Place based education: Threaded throughout my service, scholarship and teaching is my commitment to place based pedagogy, an approach which gears curriculum toward inquiry on a local level, bridging the gap between schools and their communities.

·         Service Learning and citizen participation:  This pedagogy has slowly threaded itself into not only my assignments, but also my teaching philosophy, as foundational to being an active participant in the community process. Training teachers how to teach has become interwoven with the need to train teachers to be engaged in community.

·         Availability for students:  My availability to students outside of class is evident via email, appointments, WEBCT, and office hours.  Availability creates positive rapport, approachability, and a general sense of care and support. 

The student evaluations have been positive and encouraging.  The student feedback keeps me focused on my ever evolving approach to my teaching structure, focus, and assignments.   I continue to become increasingly comfortable at SSU and have developed a strong commitment to the university, my colleagues, and the student population.