Teaching Philosophy Presentation

Most Chinese persons would have learned about these quotes as students, including myself. As my identity shifts from a student to a teacher, I realize these ancient educationist philosophies that I learned as a child has reincarnated on the other side of the world here in Canada and has been guiding my teaching practice in Communication Sciences and Disorders and other relevant fields.

I believe teachers are a unique medium to pass along human society’s knowledge and skills to the next generations. Therefore, it is important for the teachers to have a deep understanding of the teaching materials and be able to share such understanding with students in an accessible way. Based on such belief of teaching and learning, I always tried to make my teaching multimodal and approachable, as endorsed by student comments, “visuals are my favourite!” “very engaging.” I believe an “easily accessible” presentation is rooted in the teacher’s logical understanding of the content. When I found my thinking process and its visualization helped students learn, I felt resonance and connection, like how an artist would feel when their works are appreciated tacitly.

I believe in an eclectic combination of empiricism and rationalism, which means I emphasize combining learning and thinking. Therefore, I like to use questions to probe students’ critical thinking. In addition to lecturing, I often ask what students think and evoke discussions in the classroom. When teaching MScSLP (speech-language pathology) students about speech assessment and treatment of bilingual children, I presented a case study. I chose to gradually unfold the case scenario and ask students how they would proceed, e.g., “what information do you need” “what tools can you use” “what might be challenging.” Such a teaching method can not only encourage students to actively look for answers and solutions, but also models for them how they can develop their own critical questions when they process complex problems in the future.

I believe experiential learning can facilitate a meaningful understanding of abstract concepts. Through the unity of knowledge and action, students experience salient feelings and reactions which help them to reflect on their assumptions or biases. Meanwhile, the autobiographic memory can facilitate long-term retention of the knowledge. Furthermore, students make meaningful connections between the currently learned knowledge and their future practice and feel motivated in the learning process. This is especially important for MScSLP students since most of them attend a course-based program to prepare for future practice as speech-language pathologies. When teaching student therapists at Glenrose about supported communication, I designed role-play scenarios for them to act as clinicians and clients. Students reported that they experienced challenges and reactions that they had not expected, and the therapist team requested to use the activity for future training. 

In summary, I hope to grow into an impactful teacher who can help my students understand their subject content, use their critical thinking to direct their learning and decision-making, and actively consider how they can apply their knowledge and skills in clinical practice.