What is your teaching philosophy?

My philosophy as a professor begins and ends with the students. Being that I am still currently a student, I have seen excellent and terrible professors throughout my time being a student. The thing that sets good professors apart from bad professors is how they interact and communicate with the students. As a professor I want to encourage and motivate my students to be as excited about anatomy and physiology as I am. Learning is an active and engaging process that requires equal participation from both the professor and the student. If one side is lacking in their responsibilities then the other side won’t be able to succeed in knowing the information. Testing and course surveys are an excellent way to measure how each side is doing with learning and teaching the necessary material. To ensure that I, as a professor, am teaching the material to the best of my abilities, will require me to teach in many different methods. Utilizing group work, class discussion, visual learning, kinesthetic learning, as well as a multitude of other techniques will allow me to have a student-centered learning environment rather than the traditional teach-centered learning. As a professor of anatomy and physiology, I want the students to not just know or memorize the material; I want them to understand it. It is easy to memorize material for a test, “spew” it out on paper, and forget it after that. Students are in this class because they, usually, want to go into a field that requires the knowledge of anatomy and physiology. It is my job to inspire and incite students to what to really know the material that is presented to them. At the same time, it is also important to me that students feel comfortable about going into a test. To do this I plan on implementing quizzes and other assignments that will allow me to see if the information I am teaching is being understood by the students while simultaneously allowing the students to see where they are with knowing the material. This will also allow the students to seek out help from a tutor or myself on the material. Teaching is something I am passionate and excited about. As a chiropractor, I am actively teaching my patients about anatomy and physiology so they may better understand potential issues. These two qualities, among many, guarantee that I will do my absolute best and then some, to make sure the students understand and are comfortable with the information that I am teaching them.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

Briefly get to know the student and figure out how they study. Also by asking what works best for the student, in terms of learning, will help me figure out the best way to help the student.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Incorporate real life examples to help the student make the mental connection with the material.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

Try different forms of learning such as kinesthetic, auditory, or visual learning.

What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?

Visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learning.

How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?

Start with "easy" questions and slowly work our way into harder questions. This allows their mind to start gradually thinking more and more about the information.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

The word "quiz" isn't a good word. I like the word "checkpoint.” This allows students to see where they are with knowing the material.

How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?

By frequently asking if the student is understanding the information and by having them engage with me about the information, I will be able to truly tell if they are understanding the material.

What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?

Pictures, PowerPoints, textbooks, internet.

How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?

Breakdown is key with information. If the information becomes overwhelming to the student, breaking it down into smaller chunks will allow for better comprehension of the material.

What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?

By asking the student how they study and what works for them I can try and utilize that information to their benefit. Any information they are struggling with, I can try one of the many other forms of information delivery that I know.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

By asking the student what they are majoring in and wanting to do after school, I will try and relate the information or examples to them so they can see how it will benefit them in the long run.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Students ultimately need to know how to teach and study themselves without the guidance of a tutor. By showing the student different teaching ways, they may pick up new study techniques themselves. In case they don't have any or I can't come up with ones that they like, through trial and error, I have quite a few that I can show them.