Coming from a family of teachers, it is but only second nature for me to enjoy teaching. I have always believed that teaching was a noble vocation and those that sincerely took it up were delivering on a huge responsibility to the society. My style of studying and teaching takes a lot from the traditional Indian style where teachers are revered as the knowledge givers. Exposure to the changing paradigms of teaching has however developed me for better, making my dominant teaching traits ‘apprenticeship’ and ‘nurturing’ (per Teaching Perspectives Inventory test).
Entomology, the study of bugs comes under the broader subject of biology. Motives of the students taking these courses vary a lot and is something every biology teacher should adapt and cater to consistently. The challenge in introducing Entomology though is to remove the stigma attached with some insects and related phobias most people tend to possess. Once the message that “killing is not the only thing we do to bugs” is conveyed, it becomes easier to communicate more. Biology nonetheless is important in students understanding life processes on a daily basis. Teaching in its innumerable variations evoke myriad responses that range from rejection, to acceptance to excellence by the student of a subject and its respective teacher. From the many teachers that I have learned from, all have molded my teaching philosophy. The better ones have shown me what to strive for, while others have shown what not to.
All subjects are not equally interesting to everyone. From personal experience I know that an uninterested teacher can create a totally uninterested student. My task at the outset as a teacher is to spark the student’s interest in the subject. This is a strategy that I follow while tackling a course on the whole or individual lectures as the case may be. Once the student is curious about a subject, it becomes easier for knowledge to gravitate towards him/her and vice versa. While classes in entomology would vary from basic biology in specific content and style, the basic ingredients would be similar. While introducing the course, I like to clearly layout achievable expectations for and of the student. This encourages them to keep up with the material. Making the students participate in discussions, group activities, and encouraging them by commending their participation are steps I include in my teaching. Whenever possible, allowing them to lead discussions in groups and in the class later are methods that has helped engage my students. By finding time to meet with them inside and outside office hours, I think, students find it comfortable to talk about their concerns and joys in the class.
I understand that student’s ways of learning are diverse as themselves. That understanding drives me always to patiently listen and identify how I can help them understand what they need to. I strive for excellence by constantly being evaluated by communicating with students. Midterm evaluations have been a strong indicator as to the direction I need to take my course for the rest of the semester so that the students are directly and immediately benefitted, as opposed to a semester ending evaluation. My evaluation of a student’s success is not necessarily in the marks he/she achieves but rather the effort they put into understanding the concepts and imbibing the required knowledge. While a basic biology course would require understanding of phenomena and rules and related inferences from experiments, a general entomology course would first demand the mastery of a new language- the vocabulary that defines the science of Entomology. If a student earnestly works towards achieving the reasonable goals of my class I would consider both of us to be successful.
During my PhD program, my interest in teaching led me to pursuing the requirements towards a teaching certificate under the aegis of the Center for Teaching and Learning at UGA. I have been trained in distance learning softwares like second life, wimba and Camtasia. Technological advances are leading the evolution in medium of instruction and keeping up with technology is important for an instructor to be relevant with the current generation. I will hence continually explore all possible avenues to engage my students.
Cheri Abraham