Teaching Philosophy: On Some Aspects of
Teaching Style
The
mediocre teacher tells. |
Dr.
Atma Sahu, May 2002
|
I have instructed students in mathematics for over 22
years at four University System of Maryland
(USM) campuses -- University of MD College Park, University of
Maryland Eastern Shore, University of Maryland University College, College
Park, and I am currently teaching mathematics at Coppin State College,
Baltimore, Maryland. In pursuing my professional career as an associate
professor, I have attempted to become an inspiring mathematics teacher.
As I reflect on my
acquired experience, my educational philosophy has come about over my long
and productive years as a mathematics teacher. During the period of my tenure in USM, I
have encountered a variety of teaching and learning experiences as well as
some challenges that greatly have influenced my teaching style. Even more, my
enriched teaching experience that is gained in USM has provided me with a distinctive foundation to my philosophy of
teaching. I have taught a number of mathematics courses ranging from
developmental mathematics to full calculus sequence, differential equations,
linear algebra and methods courses to pre-service and in-service teachers. I
have taught courses in a variety of formats (large lecture, small groups,
team-teaching etc.) and have employed a diverse instructional delivery and
learning assessment methods. In the mathematics classroom, the
students differ greatly in their ability to acquire knowledge depending on
their previous backgrounds and learning styles. Therefore, it is a very
challenging task as a mathematics teachers to create a fertile learning
environment for such a diverse group with dissimilar needs in a class of 25
students or so, and to be able to achieve not only the targeted course
objectives, but also inspire students into becoming independent
problem-solvers and good thinkers. So, one practice that has been very useful
to me as a mathematics teacher is to be able to identify student’s skills and
their conceptual understanding levels early on in a particular course. After
early intervention, then with ease, I can develop appropriate experiential
activities that give students a sense of belonging, and thus help them make
connection between the concepts, spirally. Taking into consideration the ideas about writing an instructional
activity, I designed problem-solving items that involved numerical, graphical
and analytical methods of solutions, and I place mathematics content in a
proper context through an authentic mathematics-based experience
(application) of their lives. On many occasions, when I asked students to
make presentations, describing their problem solving processes and the
strategies they used to solve problems, and to share lessons learned from
their errors, they felt safe to talk about their difficulties and feelings
about problem-solving experience. Nevertheless, the designing of such a complex experiential activities
for students, has been a challenging and time-consuming task. Nonetheless,
the process of developing instructional activities, test- items, and project
assignments that range from the cognitive skill levels of knowledge to
synthesis and making judgments (Bloom’s classification), gave me a very
fulfilling experience. I met the challenge, and in this process of developing
classroom activities and problem solving projects, I taught myself new
software such as Math Type and Maple applications. In addition, I delivered
courses integrated with publisher’s software based on Blackboard engine, when
appropriate. Consequently, I was able to provided alternative learning aids
for students nurturing their conceptual understanding and advanced practice. Once more, it has been important for me to create a fertile learning
environment that allows students to think freely to exchange ideas, and feel
safe and confident, and such an environment is conducive to long lasting
learning. Students are then willing to take risks in employing alternative
problem solving strategies, meet to do class projects, and collaborate on a
regular basis. I make all attempts to promote the class as a community of
mathematicians where the teacher acts as a guide, and the students perform as
scholars. To encourage collaboration, when students are assigned
discovery-based problems or projects, I divide students into small groups. In
small groups, students hypothesize, test, estimate, justify, prove
mathematically, graphically, and discuss and interpret the results. They
write reports and communicate results. Outside of class, they e-mail each
other and to me, hence communicate effectively to resolve issues, if any
arise. In
other words, when working with students in classroom, I employ Bruner's two rules: a) emphasizing to grasp the structure of
mathematics and b) employing discovery approach to gain knowledge of
concepts and rules. These pedagogical principles are fundamental to my
teaching style. By employing these
principles, students learn to initiate problem solving processes and become
active learners, they take action by making connections and devise plans to
solve problems (G. Polya), test hypothesis, consolidate information, think
sensibleness about their thinking, and make judgements. Besides making use of the instructional
skills and methods, I am also engaged in employing other pedagogical
practices which include: a) a
reliable assessment methodology for students’ learning outcomes and overall
measurement of success in delivering a mathematics course, and b) the
effective use of technology in teaching and testing. The following paragraphs, detail these
practices that are pivotal to my style of delivering mathematics instruction.
I use formative evaluations tools to initiate
identifying students’ difficulties and their preparation levels for the
course. The summative evaluation methods are used to evaluate students’
learning outcomes and effectiveness of the course delivery methods. I make use of one-minute-quizzes, long
quizzes, pre-tests, Maple-projects, chapter tests, cumulative final exams,
and student teacher evaluations as some of the course outcomes evaluation
tools. Additionally, qualitative data are collected when students express
their feelings and appreciations about the subject while work in groups, make
presentations, and demonstrate their confidence in taking advanced
mathematics courses. I
am currently, pilot testing the use of Blackboard engine to communicate,
deliver course information, and test students’ learning, securely. I have made some progress and hope to be
fully operational shortly. The traditional way of communication in this new
knowledge-worker’s world is becoming more and more ineffective. Students now
have access to all multi-media systems, and I have acquired the necessary
skills to function proficiently with the incoming diverse students population
(most of them are already enrolled) and provide effective
technology-solutions to meet their changing learning styles. Students should
be well equipped with all the advanced tools, technology and skills, as well
as possess a sprit of inquiry and enthusiasm for problem solving.
Furthermore, I believe that my students should be clear thinkers with rich
and diverse know-how in mathematics and have mastery of mathematical
language. In addition, they should be able to communicate effectively. As I have reflected on my instructional experience
and classroom practices over the years, I have synthesized my teaching
philosophy. Trial, error and innovation have brought to a notable change in
my teaching style. In brief, my teaching philosophy is best described as student-centered,
problems-based, and process-oriented, which is completely different from
being a teacher-centered, content-based, and product-oriented. References: · Boyer Commission Report on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University-Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities, Stoney Brook, State University of New York (1998). From: http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/ · Bruner, J. S. In search of mind: Essays in Autobiography. New York: Harper and Row, (1983) · Polya, George. How to solve it. Doubleday, New York (1957). “Education
is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" -
William Butler Yeats _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Atma Sahu, Ph.DAssociate Professor in MathematicsCoppin State College Baltimore, MD 21216 410 951 3464 [work] Note: This is copyrighted
material. All rights reserved. May 03, 2002 |