My teaching philosophy, in its most simplified form, is that everyone can learn and that learning comes in so many different forms. In practice this means that student and teacher have to figure out together how a student learns best and what can make the process fun for her/him/them. I also strongly believe that there is no absolute right and wrong, but rather that part of learning is learning what counts and does not count in the particular class or setting that a student is in. This applies to teachers too; teachers, mentors and tutors have so much to learn from their students. I think that the best learning often comes in the form of asking good questions and learning to think in a variety of critical and creative ways, rather than just finding answers or memorizing facts. Learning definitely is not restricted to the classroom or academic context, but rather applies to every aspect of life, from personal relationships to travel opportunities to job skills and beyond. A significant part of my teaching philosophy is that a student's most important standard is only her/him/themselves--I do not believe in comparing students in order to motivate (or demotivate them), but rather choose to focus on every students' own journey of learning and growing, strengths and weaknesses, challenges and successes. Lastly, I always endeavor to make learning a collaborative process. I believe less in the individualistic, competition and rank-driven learning and more in the kind of learning that happens as a combination of individual pursuit and relationship with others, whether this be discussion in a classroom, team work on a trip or evolution in relationships. Of course, whether a student has to focus more on competition or on collaboration completely depends on the context, and I do my best to identify and cater to the framework in which a student is learning. Learning has no bounds, and I hope to bring this mentality to every kind of learning that I engage in, whether as a student or as a teacher.