My Teaching Philosophy

I have the privilege of working as a teacher, and throughout these 5 years of teaching and many years being a student, I have realized that educating and learning involves much more than I could ever have expected.

Firstly, students learn in different ways. As the VARK system states, there are four different types of learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and reading/writing. There are the ones who remember information more efficiently when taking notes while for others it is most useful to listen to podcasts. Knowing that my students have different styles when learning is key to make it possible to accommodate my lessons to my students. This is why I always try to present information in a variety of ways.

Teachers’ professional development is a long-life responsibility. Education is always evolving and we must be up-to-date in order to provide students with the best tools possible for them to succeed. For instance, COVID-19 has drastically changed the way we educate and the way we learn. Honestly, I was not ready for this abrupt change and I felt desperate at first. However, I started to learn how to adapt to this situation through countless webinars, asynchronous courses on online education, observations, colleagues advice and through research. I can now say that all this training gave me the necessary tools to impart meaningful online classes.

Two main variables that promote learning are: motivation and cooperation. Students who are motivated persist, produce a high effort and thus, perform better in classes. Similarly, cooperation plays a crucial role in learning. Cooperative learning makes my classes more engaging and gives a sense of community, which helps create a positive atmosphere where my students respect one another.

I highly believe a student-centered class is key to helping students succeed. My role in the classroom is to be a facilitator of learning and to encourage my students to be independent and take responsibility of their own learning.

Teachers should not only impart students knowledge about a specific area, but also values that help them become better human beings. I always try to foster values such as responsibility, hard work, respect, empathy, integrity and solidarity. For instance, I share with my students NGOs where they could be volunteers. I also try to include readings which promote values such as the ones mentioned before, and then reflect on what the text teaches us. I believe teachers should educate the whole child and that our main goal should be to help students become the best version of themselves.

Technology is one of the most powerful tools in education. Technology has countless advantages for students and teachers. It provides them with a huge variety of online resources to facilitate learning, makes it faster to find information and gives students fun opportunities to practice what they have learned. Furthermore, technology allows us to become more independent learners and better researchers.

The best classes are the ones planned. I consider the lesson plan to be one of the most important components of a lesson. This is what helps teachers have clear objectives and meaningful activities to achieve these goals. A teacher with a lesson plan is also more confident since she/ he knows what has to be done, when and how. This also helps the teacher manage the time more effectively.

All in all, there is a variety of factors that teachers and students should take into account when educating or learning. Education is a complex process, but in my opinion, the most gratifying one.