Teaching Philosophy

In both my personal and field experiences, I have witnessed students struggle to learn from direct instruction either because they are not interested, or they don’t think the material is relevant to them. I was lucky to have Mrs. Zhang to be my math teacher. She showed me how much she cared about her students and their subject. She inspired me to be better, push harder, go further. Most important of all, she found ways to make her lessons fun and about her students. For example, she used golden ratio to explain sequences and helped us to find it in nature like the spiral of shells and architectural designs. The in-class project was finding the beauty equation: golden ratio in a student’s face. It was quite open. It could be the ratio of the length of the face to the width of the face or the ratio of the length of an ear to the length of the nose. What a fun class! Now is my turn to be that teacher for someone else.

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As a teacher, I hope to make an impact by shaping the next generation and providing them the tools to succeed in life: education, love, teamwork, and confidence. I want my students to remember the positive things I said to them and some of my lessons could stick in their minds and impact their viewpoints for years. Students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or ADHD have a special place in my heart. I want to help them achieve better grades and increase their self-esteem by providing alternative learning methods or finding an outlet for their hyperactivity. For example, I will engage hyperactive students in the process. It means more doing and less listening. The school garden is actually a great place to talk about math because the numbers are real, not just figures and units on a page. I can teach students how to calculate the area of a raised garden bed after measuring the lengths of all sides. We can also weigh all the tomatoes, line them up in a row based on their weight and use them to learn the mean, median, and mode. For myself, I want to develop leadership skills, which are a significant part of the teaching career. Be an excellent leader is my personal goal. I will be responsible for managing, leading and directing my students to achieve their personal goals.

What makes a good teacher? I think a great teacher elicits students’ best efforts and engage their minds by working hard to prepare, thinking freshly about the material the teacher is teaching and finding examples that can grab students’ attention. To do it, teachers must see their own work through their students’ eyes. It means great teachers must understand how students think and what they feel. For example, there was research that teachers attached GoPro cameras to specific students who were tasked with engaging other students. Teachers used the footage to know what students were seeing and hearing and try to understand classroom engagement from the perspective of their students. I think it’s a great way to help teachers understand students’ body language, reactions, and interests. There are all important factors in student engagement. A great also creates a sense of community and belonging in the classroom. Teachers guarantee that a supportive, collaborative environment is built through mutual respect in the classroom. A great teacher lets students know that they are an important, integral part of the classroom and that their success not only depends on the teacher, but also on the entire class.