From my childhood, all the way to my doctoral level education, I have been a keen observer of my teachers, comparing their different philosophies and approaches, and assessing which methods were most effective. The distillation of those years of observation and analysis, combined with my study of scientific research on how diverse people learn, as well as my own teaching experience, have led to the values that form the foundation of my pedagogic philosophy and mentoring practice. As a teacher, I am aware of the tremendous responsibility and privilege of my role, which drives my commitment to effective learning. Most rewarding for me is to see my students becoming motivated to attain their highest potential.

Passion and Engagement: My experience teaching has shown me that central to establishing a productive learning environment is passion for the material and creativity in its delivery. This fosters intellectual curiosity and motivates students to be active learners, engaged in the course content, and results in lasting learning experiences. For example, as an instructor for the peer body project at Georgia Southern University, a course designed to promote body acceptance and prevent eating disorders, I used varied strategies that allowed students fully immerse themselves. I provided pre-reading assignments and suggested resources that helped my students engage in foundational material, understand the topics at their own pace, and move from novice to expert thinking during the formal course session. Additionally, I facilitated in-class dialogue, small group discussion and demonstrations, which are more effective than the traditional one-way flow of content from instructor to students. By organizing my presentations and incorporating different media into my course sessions, I increased my students attentivity, retention of information and enhanced their capacity to scaffold their learning with future concepts. As a seasoned instructor, I know students have diverse learning styles, ranging from being visual, auditory, kinesthetic, multimodal to experiential. Therefore, within the same course content, I use different strategies that depend on the needs of the students, the material being taught and the focus of the class. For me, a vital part of teaching is about designing and facilitating optimal learning experiences that foster passion and engagement.

Respect, Support and Collaboration: Respect lies at the root of any effective and inclusive learning environment. For me, establishing a supportive environment where students feel safe to engage in the material, ask questions, and critically analyze concepts is vital. I endeavor to utilize a learner-centered approach that values students' unique personalities and help them gain confidence in their critical thinking abilities. By engaging in open communication with my students, I learn about where the material is challenging, and how I can modify my approach to best support their learning. I endeavor to be approachable and give adequate opportunity for discussion, such as assuring my availability before and after lectures, having office hours, and encouraging questions. I also practice a collaborative class structure and culture, with students working together on group projects, which fosters team-based learning and peer instruction. It gives me utmost joy to build respectful and trusting interactions with my mentees, some of which have led to lasting positive relationships to this day.

Creative evaluation and constructive feedback: As an instructor, I consider it my responsibility to empower students to succeed by providing clear learning expectations, as well as opportunities for practice, feedback, and improvement. One way I accomplish this is through ensuring alignment of my course learning objectives with assessment strategies. My expectations of students are explicit and transparent, allowing them to understand what it takes to meet the course goals. For example, as a lecturer in Nigeria, I provided rubrics for assignments, examples of high-quality work, practice tests, as well as opportunities in class for students to reflect on their understanding of course materials. My teaching experience has shown me the great value of innovative assessments and evaluations that allows learners process and apply the information being taught. I accompany this with individualized feedback and reflection. Given my foray in academia, I know that when students receive constructive interactive feedback that is specific, relevant, informative and authentic, they can better understand the course concepts, improve their skills, and overall competencies. Also, it is vital for formative feedback to be timely, so students have opportunities to reflect, redirect and implement needed changes to help optimize the knowledge they gain from the course. Beyond providing grades, very important to me is guiding students in developing the tools to evaluate their approach to studying, so they can work to become effective learners.

Reflection and curriculum development: Effective teaching is a practice that is developed through self-reflection and feedback from students, peers, and mentors over the course of one's career. I strive to be a self-reflective teacher, and am constantly looking for ways to improve my teaching skills, as well as advance my knowledge and strengthen the content of the material I present. By following the best practices related to teaching techniques and learning philosophies, I find areas in my approach that can be updated, enhanced, and expanded. For example, as a Graduate teaching assistant in England, I proactively solicited feedback from my students to better understand how my tutoring activities were helping them grasp the course content, and used this feedback to hone my teaching sessions. In my various roles as an educator, I continually seek new ways to make the material appeal more to the students' curiosity through building new course content, enhancing the curriculum and introducing new instructional tools that recognize diverse learning styles. As I aspire to a long-term career in education, I believe that my tutelage skills should continuously improve, and I consistently work towards this goal. To this end, seeking and being open to continuous feedback is very important for my personal growth as an instructor. Additionally, it models to students the importance of self-reflection and growth. As I mature as a lecturer, I eager anticipate consistently developing my teaching strategies and techniques, contributing to curriculum development, content modifications, and innovative evaluation that help students reach their highest potentials.