A learning environment featuring engagement, organization, flexibility, and understanding is one of most optimal to empower students to realize their academic and personal goals, as well as to become whole citizens of the world. My passion for learning and working towards social progress pushes me to create this type of environment while teaching. In this manner, I remind myself that students are the paramount focus of my teaching. I welcome them to feel comfortable and honest in my classroom and to emerge as active members of the teaching and learning process. I want to highlight to students that everyone has the potential to learn math. Whether the student loves the subject or perhaps it is not their strongest suit, my role as a teacher is to take up the challenge of providing a path for students in which they can fully realize their potential. It is my responsibility as an educator to maintain current knowledge of the pedagogical literature and communicate with colleagues for best practices. It is important to exercise collaborative learning, projects, and multimodal work as additional teaching methods to incorporate the broad spectrum of students' linguistic and cultural repertoire. Furthermore, practicing formative assessments such as oral presentations will serve to promote individual student's confidence and personality growth, as well as minimize biases.
I believe we need to constantly evaluate our teaching forms and be simultaneously critical and flexible to executing new ideas on classroom instruction. Above all, a love for teaching and advocacy of agency growth are two of the key elements for motivating students to learn.
Through my experience as a Teaching Assistant for Calculus courses, I strive to practice student-centered approaches to create a desire for learning. I develop open-ended learning tasks for students to think critically about the main ideas of the textbook. By establishing an interactive dialogue, the students and I derive examples and approaches that best fit with their learning style. I appreciate the honesty that students display when giving mathematical answers that need improvement; embracing struggles and mistakes presents another opportunity toward success. Lastly, during office hours I adapt my teaching style to provide individual help that fits the needs of the scholar. These strategies foster a setting filled of inquiry, engagement, and problem-solving that students can carry to other courses and beyond.
The production of an atmosphere that is conducive to critical thinking and advancement starts by cultivating a good rapport with students. Often, I relate with students because I continue to be a student myself. I recognize the variation of socioeconomic challenges students face, and I know that sometimes I have minute direct influence over certain challenges. However, teachers are uniquely positioned to initiate and contribute to conversations that are inclusive of multiple perspectives and lived experiences. Through this viewpoint, I work towards becoming supportive, culturally aware, and a better communicator with every teaching interaction. This might resemble hosting one-on-one appointments for students who have conflicting schedules or affording assignment extensions for students with extenuating circumstances. Additionally, building connections with students' families requires a conscious effort and is well worthwhile when necessary, given that parental support plays a crucial role in learners' attitude both in and out of the classroom.
Without question, my passion for teaching drives me to seek opportunities to educate and mentor students from all backgrounds. Via student feedback and evaluations, I look forward to continuously improving my teaching for the effort of assisting young minds to blossom into their authentic self and future leaders of the world.
