Teaching Philosophy

When it comes to engaging learners, there are so many perspectives or ways an instructor can engage students and support their learning. There are many tactics and skills used to teach learners. I like to think about the first time I remember learning to do something. I was out with my dad. He decided he was going to teach me how to ride a bike. I remember there was a lot of trial and error. He kept telling me to get on the bike and that he would be with me, holding me up as I pedaled. My job was to pedal the bike as fast as I could. Soon enough, I was riding the bike. My dad was no longer holding on. I was doing it! I was riding my bike. I was until I did not know how to stop and ran into the garage door of our neighbor's home. In which I learned the hard way how to stop. However, this did not stop me from continuing to learn to ride the bike. Riding a bike is just one example of what learning is. It cannot be defined as one thing but is an experience that takes time to master. It is displaying or being able to apply the knowledge and experiences you have learned. 

Some people say that anyone can teach, but not everyone can teach well. My role in the future is to be a teacher who will support my students' learning. As a former high school student, I always learned better when doing things I was directly involved with. On the other hand, my friend understood better by writing everything down. Everyone will learn a little bit differently. In the beginning, I believed that teaching was by going up and teaching to support learning, but now my perspective has changed. I believe teaching is not simply delivering content, but guiding students through experiences. It can be considered that, but also so much more. Teaching for learning is accomplished in so many different ways. It is taking content and relaying it to learners in a way that they can not just understand but also be able to interpret and have a high level of thought about the content. The outcome is not the primary component of learning in teaching, but the process by which they learn.

With so many different ways that people learn, it is hard to find just one way to teach that will meet their needs. The first thing is to make a connection with the learners. If you are just a teacher at the front, teaching content, the students will not be as engaged. It might end up inhibiting their learning. The next thing is to make the content matter to each learner. They need some connection, even if it doesn’t directly involve them. Just something that will engage them and help them learn. Meeting all students' needs can be difficult. Combining different methods can aid in meeting learners' needs. Finally, the best thing to do is assess where they are. See what they know and if they are struggling with a concept. Assessments cannot just be exams or tests. They can be quick check-ups, practice, and much more.

Delivery of the material with the concepts is especially crucial when it comes to being able to support learning. If you cannot deliver the material or what you want the learners to do, it becomes difficult to support their learning. Students all learn differently, meaning that teaching should be delivered in different ways to support individual needs. Delivery still needs to be clear and concise. The worst thing possible is to make the learner confused about the information. When delivering, students need to engage with the concept the instructor is teaching. Especially when the concepts are not things that everyone is familiar with. There can be misconceptions, especially in agricultural education, that students will have general knowledge of a concept. This could be because most think that the students taking these courses have been around agriculture, but not all students have been around it before. Making sure that the students are engaged in the concept at a level that everyone can understand is crucial to learning. The good thing is that most students in ag education courses usually choose to be there. However, some will be there to fill their class schedule. Whatever the case, my job is to engage students by delivering the material to the best of my ability. Delivery is principal to concepts that not everyone is familiar with. Having activities and times where students can share their knowledge can be very important. When I learned to ride my bike, I did not just want to do it because my dad told me I was going to. A lot of my friends were doing it, and it motivated me to want to learn how to ride my bike. Having other classmates who want to learn helps with delivering material to students who may just be taking the class to take it. No matter what it is, it is crucial to deliver material to the best of your ability and to switch up how the information is delivered. 

Content and the environment of the classroom, which is where and how the content is delivered, play a major role in how the learner learns. This is where classroom management comes into play. Making sure you can manage your classroom and keep it orderly helps everyone learn the material. If a teacher cannot control the environment, it can lead to chaos, diminishing the learner's ability to obtain information. The students' seats in the classroom can be just as important as classroom management. If students sit right next to people who will distract them, it will make it harder to teach and harder for everyone to learn. The context will change with my role as a teacher. I will have different courses and all kinds of content. The delivery of the content and how it's done will impact the learning environment.

Teaching has many different components to it. It is not as easy as just going up and relaying information to the learners. Doing a variety of things to relay content helps keep all learners involved.  It is also crucial to make sure that all students are engaged and to assess them from time to time with things such as discussions on concepts. Even if it is not a quiz, they need these points to update the teacher on how learning is going. This will make sure the content is learned efficiently. Finally, a classroom with a good environment with rich content and good delivery will help with individual needs. Whatever is best to support the learners is the most important. Teaching is a learning process in itself. It takes time to master and will improve as facilitation continues. It can be trial and error, but the best thing to know is to continue to grow as a teacher.