Karen Verkler

Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.   George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)   I have been an educator in several different disciplines. However, it is my opinion that content area instruction is of secondary importance. Of utmost importance is the establishment of a caring, positive learning environment in which the student is encouraged to believe in himself/herself and to demonstrate self-respect and respect for others. In addition, I adamantly espouse the view that learning can and should be fun.      To this end, I strive to create a positive, stress-free learning environment. One of my first activities each semester is an icebreaker that allows students and teacher to become familiar with everyone’s name, background, and personality. I encourage them to celebrate the unique individuals they are. I am a firm believer in being oneself and believing in oneself. An individual attempting to emulate someone possessing a teaching style and/or personality different from one’s own will not feel a “fit.”   I show my students that teachers can expect high quality work and have fun at the same time. My expectations are high and I have been knighted “The Grammar Queen of the College of Education” by students. However, my high standards certainly do not preclude the presence of a sense of humor. I have a jovial, playful nature and laughter comes easily to me. I exude enthusiasm and a love for my profession, and encourage my students to celebrate life and have fun. Although they realize that the course content is of a very serious and important nature, they emulate my sense of humor. The resultant classroom environment is one of support, friendship, and concern for one another, the foundation upon which I base all of my teaching.

Alizera Rahrooh

A "teaching philosophy" is a set of general principles used to guide practice. Mine is mostly second hand; some of it is gained by the many good teachers that I encountered in my education and some of it shaped by the insistent and critical students I have taught since first entering a college classroom as an instructor in 1988. Teaching is a craft. Like any manual craft, it deals with tasks that must be done and re-done every day. Each day of teaching brings failures, accomplishments, crises and delightful surprises. But it is always difficult. No class, no lecture, no assignment is ever perfect. Only with great effort can they be made acceptable. Let attention slip and you get a disaster. Try too hard and you get worn out. Pace, patience and attention to detail get you through, more or less. Conversely, teaching is not mysterious, grand, a science or a set of solutions to the problems of ignorance. Teaching and learning go together but they are done by different people and, thus, the match is incomplete. Learning can happen without teaching and teaching can happen without learning. If I teach well, you will learn; but my teaching won't make you learn. It will only open opportunities for you to learn. But if I teach and you don't learn, I have failed in some way. I'll be tempted sorely to say it's your fault, but if I do that and believe it , my chances to improve the practice of my craft are over. Teaching is not the transmission of information, culture, values or skills. It is the arrangement of conditions -- a talk, a text, or a test -- that is instrumental to learning. Like gardening, teaching is an activity that organizes natural processes to produce reliable results with a lot of sweat. It can be done with jumping enthusiasm and the signing of motivational songs. It can be done with insight and much silence. Like any enduring craft, teaching is demanding. To pretend that we can mechanize it, ignore it or even practice it with our spare mind and energy is to demote it to a ritual or bureaucratic procedure. When we fail the demands of the craft, we witness the result in an intellectually unprepared student body who are mostly unable to carry out the basic activities of learning—competent reading, clear writing, and accurate calculating. To maintain a level of excellence, I always carefully attend to student evaluations and also continually take classes in areas where I do not excel in order to remember what it feels like to be in the students’ position. The troubles that every teacher faces with more or less difficulty -- the demands, the hostility, the issues of fairness and the temptation to try to make souls in our own image -- come in unique forms with each class and each student. They can only be worked out hand to hand, face to face, and every day. Can there be a better occupation for someone who loves technology, ideas, innovations, books and people?

Harry Coverston

At the heart of my teaching philosophy is the principle of engagement. There is much research documenting that students who are not engaged in their own learning do not learn as much. In pursuit of that goal I create a wide range of exercises which I collect and grade designed to help students analyze and apply ideas from the course material. I use group work extensively, often breaking down course material into smaller chunks which groups analyze and report their consensus back to the larger class.   A second focus of my pedagogy is an approach which seeks a deeper understanding of ideas, not the mere collection of data. My questions often focus on why rather than what. Indeed, a favorite response to any point raised in class is simply, “OK, that’s the what. Now, so what? What difference does this make?” My goal is to encourage a critical consciousness of the status quo which is often described as “common sense” – Common to whom? Sensible in what way?   My teaching strategies always contain elements of student accountability. Aside from traditional assessments such as tests and papers, these include students working in groups, evaluating their own efforts, those of their group members and serving as an evaluating audience for other presentations. At the end of each semester, students account for the last 25 points of their participation grade through an evaluation of their own engagement of the class (including the reasons they deserve that grade) in areas ranging from preparation to academic honesty. Finally students write summary reflection papers in which they discuss what they know about being human that they did not know prior to the course and what they have learned about themselves – human beings – in the process.   There are many ways to communicate to students that you are interested in their learning. For my classes they include taking attendance, creating assignments due at class which require preparation and keeping regular office hours. I always learn from my students every semester and I observe that in participatory classes, they are able to learn from each other as well.

Claudia Schippert

At the center of my teaching philosophy is my commitment to challenge students to examine “common sense” knowledge and to think creatively from different perspectives in order to grapple with complex negotiations of religious, political, and cultural identities in different times and places. I ask students to identify their place in society and help equip them with what they need to create and organize a meaningful and engaged way of life. I create a community of learners who draw on intellectual curiosity, a passion for learning, and a sense of being authorized to take a stance. In challenging students, it is important to provide them with the tools and guidance to successfully take on the challenge. I seek to demonstrate to students that it is essential to be familiar with and conversant in one’s own tradition while also confronting different and difficult viewpoints, traditions, and interpretations. I try to help students develop habits of thought that are characterized by such integrity, commitment, and intellectual curiosity. It may not surprise, then, that I have found strong convictions – or even plain stubbornness – very useful traits in students. Devil’s advocates are also always welcome in my classroom. I find that learning is not confined to the time or space of scheduled class meetings. I do not expect to observe the “effect” of my teaching immediately or necessarily in my classroom. Often it takes time for some new tool or critical attitude to be relevant or to become sufficiently the student’s own to make a difference. Furthermore, students teach each other a great deal – be it in small groups in class or in conversations outside of class. I try to respect these processes and seek to provide the kind of intellectual stimulation and guidance that enable such ongoing explorations. I place great value on fair challenges and opportunities for transformation. Learning takes place, I think, when the learner stretches herself, expands former abilities, and reaches further than previously thought possible. I seek to teach tools for such critical growth and transformation.

Rani Vajravelu

My goal in teaching is to promote student success without compromising quality education. I use an interactive teaching style in all my courses, which range from large non-major to small-enrollment Honors and upper division classes. I create a learning environment that is mutually enjoyable for the teacher and the student. My students start out the semester expecting a traditional teacher-centered classroom, but eventually realize their responsibility and value as learners. I make my expectations and course objectives clear, and I outline the ways we, as a team, can achieve the goals for quality education. I ensure that I present a professional demeanor and follow the rules that I lay down for the class. I employ a variety of teaching methods to accommodate different learning styles. I involve the students by: creating learning communities; being enthusiastic about course content; allowing students to actively participate; and providing instant feedback to allow for corrections. I use humor and real-life anecdotes to spark student interest and to make my presentations intellectually engaging. I feel that teachers have the power to affect the lives of students. Besides disseminating information, teachers have the responsibility to create informed citizens and to prepare them for real future careers. Such an education should be a fun experience, not a burden, so students can leave the course with confidence and a deeper appreciation of knowledge regardless of their final course grade.