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Rachel Watson Teaching Portfolio

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is guided by two quotes that I wrote and clumsily taped to the wall of my office:

 

“Treat the person sitting next to you as if he or she has accomplished amazing things; you will never be wrong and you will certainly never be sorry.”

 

“The goal of teaching is not to show students how much we know, but instead to help students realize their own capacity to know.”

 

Together these sayings guide my pedagogy, daily reminding me of the importance of truly listening to my students and treating them as though they have knowledge that is equally as valuable as my own. I believe that when we predefine valuable contributions with a syllabus or grading key, we wrongly pre-select, as successful, only one type of contribution.

 

This pedagogy could be described as “learner-centered” and is heavily informed by feminism. I believe students’ backgrounds, perspectives, interests, abilities, social settings, experiences, capabilities, and individual talents and needs affect their learning (McCombs, page 5). In order to try to accommodate the individual needs of students, I am in a constant search for new “ways to listen”, to stimulate thought and questions. Online platforms, as showcased in this portfolio, provide one of these forums for student expression and interaction.

 

My teaching philosophy could also be described as moderate social constructivism. Such an approach to teaching and instructional design values collaborative learning. Constructivism also holds that students build their own realities with mere building blocks that I, as an instructor, can provide. Based on students’ backgrounds they impose meaning on the building blocks and with time and guidance shape and reform the structures that they compose. However, in no way does this reflect a desire to leave students to flounder without guidance through their education. And in fact, I also cling to many ideals of social cognitivism, particularly the importance of the instructor as a role model (Merriam, 2008). I work everyday to play an active role in student discussions, laboratory procedures and online threads.

 

While such pedagogy would seem to be at odds with a more systematic approach to design of instruction, I feel that the best way to effect individual students is through a combination of humanistic and systematic instruction (Dick and Carey page 73). Much of the electronic media created to accompany General Microbiology was created using a systems approach (Dick and Carey). When used as a supplementary tool, I believe that this only strengthens my ability to listen to and accommodate students’ needs.