Teaching and Learning Philosophy

As an educator, I believe that it is my responsibility to utilize various methods of teaching to be as effective for my learners as possible. My teaching philosophy centers around the belief that all learners are unique and have their own strengths. It is my role as an educator to create a supportive and all inclusive learning environment that fosters the strength and development of my learners by utilizing techniques that meet the needs of visual, aural, kinesthetic, reading/writing, and multimodal learners. 

Through my experiences, not only do I believe that equity and inclusivity is at the core of effective teaching, but also the fact that education is a transformative process where we can empower our learners to embody their roles as a lifelong learner and become critical thinkers. It is extremely important that we recognize the importance of continued education and providing our learners with the resources and time for them to continue exploring new topics to better their understanding of materials they are taught. Providing our learners with consistent opportunities to pursue education topics and providing them with consistent feedback can allow them to further improve not only their comprehension of topics but for them to gain the opportunity for reflection and growth. 

In my future role as an OT, I strive for my learners to feel as if they have participated in an impactful learning experience. I would like them to take away from their educational interactions with me that the ultimate goal is to allow them to reach their full potential and that I am readily available to provide them with the materials and resources they need to be successful. I want them to recognize how important it is to seek out support that meets the needs of their own learning style and my goal is for them to  see me as someone who is able to create an interactive and participatory learning environment that encompasses these needs. I hope that my learners recognize me as an individual that is approachable and understanding of their diverse learning needs as this can allow them to feel more uniquely supported throughout their learning experience. 

In my OT practice, I can clearly see where my roles will align as a therapist and as an educator. Through every interaction with my clients and colleagues, I realize that education plays a vital role, especially when it comes to communicating to patients about safety, discharge plans, durable medical equipment, and more, collaborating with colleagues for interventions, and advocating for the OT profession as a whole. In my future practice, I hope to infuse my beliefs toward equity in education and the importance of providing a collaborative and consistent learning environment and resources. When hosting group intervention sessions, one thing I hope to do to follow my value toward equity is to provide my clients with opportunities and resources that are unique to their learning needs and preferences in order to allow them to be successful rather than providing the same materials for the entire group. In addition to this, when it comes to working with my clients in a manner that emphasizes lifelong learning, I plan to revisit them one-on-one and utilize teach back strategies and also plan to provide them with extra resources following sessions so that they can continue developing their understanding of topics covered. 

Overall, I hope to incorporate all that I have learned from this course to foster a learning environment that emphasizes the importance of collaboration, interactive learning, lifelong learning principles, and equity. My aim is to create learner centered environments that are inclusive of all learners’ needs to allow for my learners to be the most successful they can be.