Teaching Philosophy: Jason Brown
Firstly, articulating my teaching philosophy is important because it allows me to look from the ‘outside’ at my own teaching and also to reflect from the ‘inside,’ asking questions that might otherwise have been taken for granted. It allows me to try to ‘see’ from where I have come, where I am now, and in which direction I would like to head in this profession. It is much easier to reach your goals when you know what they are after all.
That being said, when it comes to education, I have unconsciously been guided by principles based on experiences both as a student and as a developing teacher. Most importantly, I have felt that, like Yin and Yang, teaching and learning are two sides of an inseparable whole – the process of education. Process clearly implies action that is ongoing. In order to be a better second/foreign language teacher, my philosophy has included placing myself in the shoes of the learner because this is an excellent way to feel connected to and learn about the process of language education. There is no better way to place oneself in the shoes of the learner than to commit to lifelong learning, and that is what I have done, currently finishing my seventh course in an Educational Doctorate in TESOL. With regards to learning additional languages myself, I have spent three years in Quebec studying French, eight years in Japan studying Japanese/teaching English, four months teaching in India as well as several weeks teaching in China. These experiences have allowed me to connect with foreign language learning and culture authentically. Immersing myself in the shoes of both the foreign language student and the language instructor has allowed me to experience a variety of teaching methodologies and styles, to learn about the educational and cultural practices of foreign societies, and to experience first hand the complexities of culture shock and other issues surrounding one’s sense of identity both when studying in a foreign culture and when returning home with a new ‘blended’ identity. How has this helped to shape, even sub-consciously, my teaching philosophy? It means I place an importance on:
- being aware of the need for flexibility when dealing with International students both in and out of the classroom
- being prepared to adapt to cultural issues that arise
- providing a variety of teaching activities to appeal to a variety of learning styles
- Attempting to facilitate learner-autonomy while bridging for cultures more familiar with teacher-fronted-knowledge-based approaches
- Teaching to my strengths while recognizing weaknesses and working on them
- Placing student needs first
- Respecting diversity in colleagues’ values even when they differ from my own
- Accepting challenges for growth such as working towards my Ed. D. in TESOL, teaching in the TESL program, the M.ED. program and overseas when the opportunity arises.
Even after twenty-three years of teaching, I still feel I am a developing instructor, a student with a lot to learn about teaching, especially from experienced colleagues. As I continue to gain experience in this cycle of education, I plan to openly face challenges and continue to give back to the best of my ability in the classroom and through the TESL and M. ED. programs. Several of the most important principles that continue to guide my ongoing journey as a developing teacher include the following:
Students learn best when, for them, the learning context is relevant. If students can understand the connection between the learning materials and activities in which they are engaged and their ultimate real world objective, then there is a much greater chance for engagement and learning to take place. As a teacher, it is my job to ensure students see connections between their ultimate learning goals and the everyday classroom activities in which they are engaged.
Students learn best when, for them, they feel safe and comfortable in the learning environment, when conditions bolster their self-esteem and help build confidence, and when the setting appeals to various intrinsic motivations. As a teacher, it is my job to put students at ease emotionally, creating conditions whereby affective passions of students are ignited and fueled to encourage their participation.
Students learn best when the learning environment presents a cognitive challenge. The activities should neither be too easy nor too difficult. As a teacher, it is my job to be aware of the relative ability of students in particular classes and to present activities that push them to actively engage on a cognitive level – to present some sort of challenge they must grapple with intellectually.
Students learn best when engaged in active learning. This implies pedagogical methodologies such as task-based and experiential learning. If I were to create activities that merely focused on practising linguistic forms, the type of deep learning that allows for transference of skills to real world situations likely will not take place. Thus, as a teacher, it is my job to create task-based experiential learning activities that first and foremost have real-world outcomes and secondly have linguistic features embedded within them where possible so that language learning takes place within engaging tasks.
To sum up the most important guiding principles informing my teaching philosophy, a teacher must create a learning environment that is relevant and engaging for the student, that is stimulating yet affectively secure, that is cognitively challenging and that keeps students active in solving tasks through real world experiences and/or experiential projects.