NFE Reflections Brame 2007-8
From CTLpedia
MCC New Faculty Experience Reflections, My Name, My Department, Mesa Community College, Contact me (mailto:myemail)
My Teaching Philosophy
My philosophy actually stems from a non-academic background. I did university for 10 years, including a masters and doctorate degree. During that time, I taught a few college courses and individual classes without any clue what I was doing. After I graduated from medical school, I entered a private practice, followed by the entrepreneurial world. I also pursued professional speaking, joined Toastmasters, wrote a couple of health-related books, and pursued marketing strategies that included…giving seminars. Thus began a journey into the world of professional education, except from a business/sales/marketing angle.
In the business world, if you just tell your attendees information, you’ll bore them to pieces. And that means no sales – a fatal blow to any business. The stakes are much higher in the business world for effective speaking/teaching than in the academic world. Many speakers called themselves “edutainers” or “infotainers.” They informed AND entertained their audiences, and with enough skill and presence, inspired the audience (at least for long enough to buy their products afterwards!). And boy oh boy, they were good!
Students live in a world of constant stimulation. They need it in the classroom, or they will become quickly bored. A bored student stops listening, or far worse, loses the incentive to learn. We must recognize this. Complaining about today’s students being lazy doesn’t solve the problem; I believe we need to deal with the reality of today’s high-stimulation world, and step up our efforts to combine information with entertainment. It’s critical to student retention. In the business world, if you don’t do this, you lose your job.
On the other hand, one speaker showed me that Learning involves pairing up something you already know with something that you didn’t know before. Neurolinguistic science has supported this idea. Therefore, a big part of my philosophy is that we must relate new information with simple analogies and stories that students can understand. Even better, if the analogies are current and “hip,” the modern students will more willingly grasp them (and voluntarily show up to class to get them!).
So far then, my philosophy includes entertaining as well as informing, and using analogies and/or stories with connections to current issues.
I believe that educators must then take on one of the most difficult roles of all (other than being a parent): being the example. My teaching philosophy reflects the “Personal Model” teaching style for an important reason (see Richlin’s blueprint book). Young folks of today get crammed with plenty of information. Information is everywhere and easy to get. In the middle of a biology laboratory class, if I don’t know something, I usually just Google search it – it’s faster than looking in the textbook!
Students (and society in general, I think) are not deprived of information. Instead, in my experience they are deprived of true role models – people who walk their talk. I’m in a fortunate position to be teaching about health and healing (I teach anatomy/physiology). Would I be effective in teaching about this if I smoked cigarettes outside the classroom, drank alcohol every day, walked into the classroom with McDonald’s bags, and was 100 pounds overweight? Maybe, but I certainly wouldn’t be a role model, a mentor.
A big part of my teaching philosophy resides in integrity, which means lining up what you say, what you do, and who you want to be. I believe when you line these up, you find a place of massive power, and students automatically look up to you as a mentor. You show them that it’s okay to be them…wow, what a lesson! Regardless of the discipline you teach (math, English, psychology, etc), you have the opportunity every day to show students strength, compassion, individuality, tolerance, and vulnerability. And they ARE watching you! It’s not about never making a mistake (we all do); it’s about how you handle yourself, especially in tough situations.
So, I believe that showing up with wholeness, being the living example of your values, using analogies and stories applicable to the student demographics, and using entertainment to keep student interest forms a solid foundation for effective teaching. This is just my way though. There are many other ways that also work.
From there, the rest of my teaching philosophy includes: -Teaching to all learning styles (VARK) and types of intelligences (Gardner theory) -Being consistent with what you say (don’t change the rules on the students) -Using diversity in teaching techniques for every class meeting -Avoiding just reading to the students – they can read on their own time -Getting out from behind the lectern and allowing yourself to be vulnerable -Sharing personal stories that have educational and/or inspirational relevance -Using lecture time to explain/demo biological concepts, so they fill in details on their own time with the textbook -Rewarding the students often – behavior that gets rewarded gets increased (positive feedback system)
Reflection on Scholarly Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE
Understanding of MCC Culture Gained through NFE
TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE
Impact of NFE on my Approach to Teaching
TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE
Reflection on my Experience in the NFE Community
TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE
Reflection on My Future as a Member of the MCC Community
TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE
