Teaching Philosophy.
I believe that learning is primarily a verb, not a noun. Active learning is not a spectator sport; effective teaching facilitates critical thinking and fosters learning through self-discovery. As such, as an educator I am responsible for facilitating the active learning of my students. A primary focus of my teaching is assisting students to develop an understanding and respect for diversity.
Learning occurs during a lifelong process. Today, people change careers several times in their lifetimes. The goal of education is therefore not only to teach content, but to educate students about the process of learning and help them to understand how they best learn. This resonates with the old adage, “if you give a person a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.”
My experiences as a full-time faculty member in graduate counseling programs has taught me that each learner has unique needs, and that effective teaching begins with an assessment of how best to help students demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills they are to learn. I began my career as a pure constructivist, and became more pragmatic in my approach after teaching adult learners who often preferred direct instructional methods such as lectures on assigned readings. This had surprised me, as I had believed that direct instruction such as lectures were frequently ineffective as it had been criticized for isolating details and encouraging rote memorization (McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2010).
Five Principles of Effective Teaching
My teaching philosophy is therefore guided first by the principle that the instructor and facilitator must first understand how best to help the learner master the material. There are several other principles that I have found to be particularly useful in this process. The second principle pertains to the importance of the instructor being clear in their own mind about the learning objectives of the course and using them to guide course design and delivery. Learning objectives should be broken down week-by-week, so that students have opportunities for practice before demonstrating mastery. The instructor should then convey these learning outcomes in a clear manner from the very first class meeting to the end of the course, and ensure that the student understands what they are being asked to practice and learn.
The third principle pertains to relevancy. Learners often respond best when content knowledge is made practical and relevant to their own educational goals. The instructor should therefore ensure that the learning objectives of the course are relevant to the learner, and that practical examples are provided for content knowledge to be learned and applied. For example, I often use case studies from my own clinical practice (with identifiers removed), for learners to understand how the content being learned is relevant to real-life work with clients. Learners often provide feedback that this practical information helps them understand not only the relevance of what they are learning to their educational goals, but also how to apply this information when they meet with clients in later settings.
The fourth principle pertains to relationship. The relationship between the instructor and the learner is pivotal to ensuring that the learning objectives of the course are met. A trusting relationship helps the learner feel comfortable with taking risks such as trying out new skills or sharing vulnerable information such as acknowledging mistakes and accepting feedback. Students perform best when supported and nurtured, such as by the instructor’s recognition of their risk-taking and efforts. When the instructor effectively conveys that the learner is believed capable of growth and development, they are more likely to fulfill this expectation. The instructor should pay particular attention to their working relationship with the learners in the classroom, and check-in periodically about how those learners believe their working relationship is going. This focus on relationship also models a foundational component of effective counseling practice. Continuing to cultivate a working relationship with students often requires time outside of the classroom to provide mentoring, guidance, and specialized instruction.
The fifth principle of my teaching philosophy pertains to the importance of exposure in the learning process. I believe that learning is primarily a verb, not a noun. Effective teaching facilitates critical thinking and fosters learning through self-discovery. Students learn through active participation and investment in the learning process; they are not merely vessels to be filled. As such, as an educator I am responsible for facilitating the active learning of my students. Active learning (Stalheim-Smith (1998) is defined as task engagement, and reflection upon engagement. Active learning requires direct engagement with stimuli and opportunities for reflection afterward. Optimal learning environments are best established when the learner has opportunities for exposure to real-life learning opportunities outside of the classroom, with later opportunities for self-reflection.
In that regard, external course requirements such as participating in service learning experiences can provide direct exposure to important concepts that are being taught during a course. Activities such as service learning enable the learner to directly experience the phenomenon. Student self-discovery occurs through activities and exercises that assist them in transforming pre-defined notions to real world learning via the immediacy of the here-and-now.
Subsequent self-reflective exercises such as journals or reflection papers can help the learner to integrate these new experiences into existing schema through personal construction of meaning (Guiffrida, 2005). Deep learning is often facilitated by pre-conscious implicit processing associated with the right hemisphere (RH) of the brain and attributed to experiential learning approaches (MacNeilage, Rogers, & Vallatorigara, 2009). When multiple learners are exposed to the same stimulus, it is believed that each individual will learn something different, grounded in their subjective interpretation and meaning making (McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2010). Thus, construction of knowledge is understood to be an individualized and creative process, one that cannot (and should not) be scripted. To this end, Guiffrida (2005) proposed that instructors create experimental situations, whereby the student has to react to simulated client presentations, with their performance discussed during class. Technology can be assistive in the active learning process, and I commonly use a flipped classroom approach (Moran & Milsom, 2015) in my instruction. In the flipped classroom method, I require that students view pre-recorded lectures prior to class sessions. The in-person class session is then spent in discussions, experiential exercises, and out-of-class learning such as field trips and community-based service learning.
Multicultural Emphasis
A primary focus of my teaching is assisting students to develop an understanding and respect for diversity, which requires direct engagement on the part of the student to examine themselves, followed by direct contact with their external environment to best understand the impact of environmental influence on human development and behavior. Students must directly experience this moment of contact, to facilitate an exploration and re-examining of their attitudes, beliefs, and values. This inward and outward journey provides a balanced and nuanced approach to understanding our multiple identities regarding cross-cultural constructs such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, social class, ability and disability status, sexual and affective orientation, gender identity, languages spoken, spiritual and/or religious practice, and cultural practices. This journey inward and outward must also be prompted and guided by the instructor to examine more discomforting and perturbing concepts such as white privilege, racism, sexism and gender inequality, homophobia, discrimination, oppression, prejudice, mental health stigma, and marginalization. The instructor can provide more guided direction to ensure that current inward and outward exploration is also grounded in a reflection on the impact of historical forces impacting our current socio-cultural environment.
Modeling holds an essential function during this process, as the instructor provides for students an example and paradigm of how to explore one’s external environment alongside their personal history, attitudes, beliefs, and values. In my instruction of students, I openly acknowledge my personal cultural experiences and share their impacts. For example, I share with my students that as an immigrant to the U.S. at the age of 20, I learned much from being immersed into a different culture where I had to re-learn rules of discourse, social expectations, and navigate “resident alien” status while building a professional career.
References
Guiffrida, D. A. (2005). The emergence model: An alternative pedagogy for facilitating self-reflection and theoretical fit in counseling students. Counselor Education and Supervision, 44, 201-213.
MacNeilage, P. F., Rogers, L., & Vallortigara, G. (2009). Origins of the left and right brain. Scientific American, 301, 160-167.
Moran, K., & Milsom, A. (2015). The flipped classroom in counselor education. Counselor Education and Supervision, 54, 32-43. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6978.2015.00068.x
McAuliffe, G., & Eriksen, K. (2010). Handbook of counselor preparation: Constructivist, developmental, and experiential approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Stalheim-Smith, A. (1998). Focusing on active, meaningful learning. Manhattan, KS: IDEA Center.
Teaching Samples.
I believe that learning is primarily a verb, not a noun. Active learning is not a spectator sport; effective teaching facilitates critical thinking and fosters learning through self-discovery. As such, as an educator I am responsible for facilitating the active learning of my students. A primary focus of my teaching is assisting students to develop an understanding and respect for diversity.
Learning occurs during a lifelong process. Today, people change careers several times in their lifetimes. The goal of education is therefore not only to teach content, but to educate students about the process of learning and help them to understand how they best learn. This resonates with the old adage, “if you give a person a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.”
My experiences as a full-time faculty member in graduate counseling programs has taught me that each learner has unique needs, and that effective teaching begins with an assessment of how best to help students demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills they are to learn. I began my career as a pure constructivist, and became more pragmatic in my approach after teaching adult learners who often preferred direct instructional methods such as lectures on assigned readings. This had surprised me, as I had believed that direct instruction such as lectures were frequently ineffective as it had been criticized for isolating details and encouraging rote memorization (McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2010).
Five Principles of Effective Teaching
My teaching philosophy is therefore guided first by the principle that the instructor and facilitator must first understand how best to help the learner master the material. There are several other principles that I have found to be particularly useful in this process. The second principle pertains to the importance of the instructor being clear in their own mind about the learning objectives of the course and using them to guide course design and delivery. Learning objectives should be broken down week-by-week, so that students have opportunities for practice before demonstrating mastery. The instructor should then convey these learning outcomes in a clear manner from the very first class meeting to the end of the course, and ensure that the student understands what they are being asked to practice and learn.
The third principle pertains to relevancy. Learners often respond best when content knowledge is made practical and relevant to their own educational goals. The instructor should therefore ensure that the learning objectives of the course are relevant to the learner, and that practical examples are provided for content knowledge to be learned and applied. For example, I often use case studies from my own clinical practice (with identifiers removed), for learners to understand how the content being learned is relevant to real-life work with clients. Learners often provide feedback that this practical information helps them understand not only the relevance of what they are learning to their educational goals, but also how to apply this information when they meet with clients in later settings.
The fourth principle pertains to relationship. The relationship between the instructor and the learner is pivotal to ensuring that the learning objectives of the course are met. A trusting relationship helps the learner feel comfortable with taking risks such as trying out new skills or sharing vulnerable information such as acknowledging mistakes and accepting feedback. Students perform best when supported and nurtured, such as by the instructor’s recognition of their risk-taking and efforts. When the instructor effectively conveys that the learner is believed capable of growth and development, they are more likely to fulfill this expectation. The instructor should pay particular attention to their working relationship with the learners in the classroom, and check-in periodically about how those learners believe their working relationship is going. This focus on relationship also models a foundational component of effective counseling practice. Continuing to cultivate a working relationship with students often requires time outside of the classroom to provide mentoring, guidance, and specialized instruction.
The fifth principle of my teaching philosophy pertains to the importance of exposure in the learning process. I believe that learning is primarily a verb, not a noun. Effective teaching facilitates critical thinking and fosters learning through self-discovery. Students learn through active participation and investment in the learning process; they are not merely vessels to be filled. As such, as an educator I am responsible for facilitating the active learning of my students. Active learning (Stalheim-Smith (1998) is defined as task engagement, and reflection upon engagement. Active learning requires direct engagement with stimuli and opportunities for reflection afterward. Optimal learning environments are best established when the learner has opportunities for exposure to real-life learning opportunities outside of the classroom, with later opportunities for self-reflection.
In that regard, external course requirements such as participating in service learning experiences can provide direct exposure to important concepts that are being taught during a course. Activities such as service learning enable the learner to directly experience the phenomenon. Student self-discovery occurs through activities and exercises that assist them in transforming pre-defined notions to real world learning via the immediacy of the here-and-now.
Subsequent self-reflective exercises such as journals or reflection papers can help the learner to integrate these new experiences into existing schema through personal construction of meaning (Guiffrida, 2005). Deep learning is often facilitated by pre-conscious implicit processing associated with the right hemisphere (RH) of the brain and attributed to experiential learning approaches (MacNeilage, Rogers, & Vallatorigara, 2009). When multiple learners are exposed to the same stimulus, it is believed that each individual will learn something different, grounded in their subjective interpretation and meaning making (McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2010). Thus, construction of knowledge is understood to be an individualized and creative process, one that cannot (and should not) be scripted. To this end, Guiffrida (2005) proposed that instructors create experimental situations, whereby the student has to react to simulated client presentations, with their performance discussed during class. Technology can be assistive in the active learning process, and I commonly use a flipped classroom approach (Moran & Milsom, 2015) in my instruction. In the flipped classroom method, I require that students view pre-recorded lectures prior to class sessions. The in-person class session is then spent in discussions, experiential exercises, and out-of-class learning such as field trips and community-based service learning.
Multicultural Emphasis
A primary focus of my teaching is assisting students to develop an understanding and respect for diversity, which requires direct engagement on the part of the student to examine themselves, followed by direct contact with their external environment to best understand the impact of environmental influence on human development and behavior. Students must directly experience this moment of contact, to facilitate an exploration and re-examining of their attitudes, beliefs, and values. This inward and outward journey provides a balanced and nuanced approach to understanding our multiple identities regarding cross-cultural constructs such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, social class, ability and disability status, sexual and affective orientation, gender identity, languages spoken, spiritual and/or religious practice, and cultural practices. This journey inward and outward must also be prompted and guided by the instructor to examine more discomforting and perturbing concepts such as white privilege, racism, sexism and gender inequality, homophobia, discrimination, oppression, prejudice, mental health stigma, and marginalization. The instructor can provide more guided direction to ensure that current inward and outward exploration is also grounded in a reflection on the impact of historical forces impacting our current socio-cultural environment.
Modeling holds an essential function during this process, as the instructor provides for students an example and paradigm of how to explore one’s external environment alongside their personal history, attitudes, beliefs, and values. In my instruction of students, I openly acknowledge my personal cultural experiences and share their impacts. For example, I share with my students that as an immigrant to the U.S. at the age of 20, I learned much from being immersed into a different culture where I had to re-learn rules of discourse, social expectations, and navigate “resident alien” status while building a professional career.
References
Guiffrida, D. A. (2005). The emergence model: An alternative pedagogy for facilitating self-reflection and theoretical fit in counseling students. Counselor Education and Supervision, 44, 201-213.
MacNeilage, P. F., Rogers, L., & Vallortigara, G. (2009). Origins of the left and right brain. Scientific American, 301, 160-167.
Moran, K., & Milsom, A. (2015). The flipped classroom in counselor education. Counselor Education and Supervision, 54, 32-43. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6978.2015.00068.x
McAuliffe, G., & Eriksen, K. (2010). Handbook of counselor preparation: Constructivist, developmental, and experiential approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Stalheim-Smith, A. (1998). Focusing on active, meaningful learning. Manhattan, KS: IDEA Center.
Teaching Samples.
| samplesyllabus.pdf |
| samplerubric.pdf |
| samplelessonplan.pdf |
