My Teaching Philosophy

P. M. Choate, 2001

My teaching philosophy is based on the principle that students learn best by doing. I do not believe that formal lectures necessarily stimulate thinking and motivate one to learn. To the contrary, I feel that lecturing in the strict sense merely fulfills peer expectations of teaching protocol.

I believe that clearly stated objectives are essential to the organization and development of course materials. Without such objectives students are left to guess about what they will be expected to do and how they will be evaluated.

Class topics should be made relevant for the students. Considerations for student backgrounds and common interests are important when designing course content. It is important to remember that my class is probably one of several that the students are taking. For that very reason it is unreasonable to expect that they will devote an inordinate amount of their time to learn more than they have to to succeed. More content is not always better

I continue to remind myself that no matter how excited I am about my course, and no matter how much information I want to pass onto them, students only have a limited amount of time and energy for my class.

I prefer to examine with take home tests, thus affording the student time to work at their own pace. I do not believe in excessive memorization of details which may be looked up, nor do I expect (unless I clearly state the need for) students to be able to regurgitate details. I prefer to give exams that allow individuals to demonstrate their cognitive skills. I especially prefer task completion as a means of testing.

I encourage questions from students, and insure that they are made to feel comfortable when risking making mistakes. I believe in going to class (this no longer applies to online courses such as this)with a "game plan", while at the same time being willing to modify or discard that plan in its entirety if a situation arises that demands this. As we all know, spontaneous discussions may erupt which lead in unanticipated directions. I accept and support this!

I am a believer in dialogs, trying never to make a student feel "stupid" or inferior as a result of their answers. I believe in asking students what it is that they expect to learn in my class. I bring enthusiasm about the subject to class, a list of objectives to direct the students, a plan to achieve these objectives, and exercises to test whether students have achieved the level of competency I expected. I believe in giving students many opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge.

I am willing to try new techniques to improve my teaching skills. I believe that exams should be gone over in detail, with opportunity for questions and debate. Additional time must be allocated for students to come by my office to go over their tests.

Flexibility is paramount. Students need to feel that their opinions matter. I do not believe that admitting "I do not know" is a problem. I feel comfortable in saying that if I don’t know the answer I will find out and get back to the student.

I realize that there will be days when the best laid plans fail. Experience has taught me that these "disasters" will occur in spite of my best plans.

I teach because I want to, because I enjoy it, and because I believe that what I am teaching is exciting, relevant, and important to the students.