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Teaching Philosophy Statement
Teaching is something very close to my heart, and had a catalytic influence in my decision to follow an academic career. I expect teaching to be a core component of my faculty career. Without exception, I have enjoyed my interactions with students, and found the process of instruction to be a central benefit of academic life. Teaching and learning are two complimentary elements that cannot exist separately. From my early years as a private tutor I got captivated by the pleasure derived from teaching and the privilege that is to passing knowledge and explaining the world. Teaching is not only about passing on knowledge but it is a great way to learn and dive deep into the taught subject. During my years as student I was honored to be taught by great teachers that inspired my to learn, research and deliver the knowledge. Those raw models helped me fostered my teaching character, and my develop certain methodologies and philosophies about teaching. Have been taught, and teaching mostly math and engineering courses, those philosophies and methodologies have been involved to fit mostly that material.
One of the most important elements to build productive student-teacher relations is the clear understanding of what the teacher is expecting form the students and what the students are expecting from the teacher. That has to be done by a very well thought out syllabus that will utilize the student time for maximum productivity and learning. Rigid part of that process is the homework assignments, term papers and lab sessions. I believe that they should not only support and utilize the taught material but should extend it by complimenting the taught material. The purpose of those activities are to push them to discover something new and make the taught course more interesting. Al those elements have to be designed before the course starts. A well thought out syllabus should provide the necessary information about sections/material covered, about the homework assignments and the grading. The course should be complimented by a well written collection of notes that will cover the basic material of the course. My experience so far has shown that although there are great text books, not always contain the material in the extend, amount, format, and detail it is preferred by the teacher.
Although organization of the course is an important aspect, the actual teaching and the teaching methodology is the core of a well taught course. By the end of the semester, I am expecting the students, to have a very good understanding of the key concepts covered in the course develop critical and synthetic thinking. I believe that to optimally facilitate this, the teaching should involve the stripping of an idea, a theorem, an axiom, out of complicated equations, terminologies, and schemes and deliver to the student the true meaning in a clean and crisp way, that the student can grasp on. Once the basic idea has been described adequately the addition of the equations and terminologies can be added and the building upon the freshly taught topic can become more effective. This is why makes homework assignment, such an important element of the course, since it can give the opportunity to the students to deepen and understand to the taught content.
To further develop the critical thinking it is important to emphasize on the interaction between students and teacher, by constantly challenging the students, and directing questions towards all the student to involve all of them in the discussion. Pushing the students to discover knowledge rather telling them, is much more rewarding both for students and the teacher. It does not 't only make the classroom experience more enjoyable but also pushes the students to think and develop the critical thinking. This type of exercise I believe is far more valuable than the knowledge itself. It is the tool required to explore, discover and learn, and it is the one thing that a teacher cannot emphasize enough. This is also reflected in the quiz and exam questions, where the questions are not just repetition of the class material that relies on memorization, but are build upon it. The questions I ask are based more on the element of critical thinking than calculations, that often one small mistake can mislead the student. The calculations are usually left for the homework, so the students will familiarize themselves with the equations and the concepts, but most important they will obtain a good understanding about the magnitudes of the various parameters. The questions both in homework and quizzes, have to be clearly stated and the objectives are very well defined. Occasionally there are cases, where there are open ended questions where the students learn with valid arguments to support their case.
A cornerstone of the ethics involved in teaching is the fairness against the students and treating each student as an individual, but always keeping in mind that he/she is part of a group. A fair teaching is the one who will devote the same time and effort for all the students. The one who will encourage and award the most advanced students, but will never give up to the least advanced students. Respecting and promoting intellectual diversity requires a deeper understanding of how diversity manifests inside and outside of the classroom. On the one hand, intellectual diversity manifests itself in the various scientific backgrounds that students possess, especially in interdisciplinary departments. On the other hand, intellectual diversity manifests itself in the various ways students learn and understand. To effectively promote and develop students’ critical thinking skills, both forms of intellectual diversity must be taken into consideration. The second way of respecting and promoting intellectual diversity is by presenting information in a variety of formats, and to measure aptitude in a variety of contexts. Because students possess different learning strategies/abilities, I believe teachers should make an extra effort to present class materials in a variety of formats. Myself as a student I was diagnosed with dyslexia, and although my teachers were aware of that, some of them failed to fully understand the uniqueness of that learning variation, and their perception was not the best to assist me learn. I am committed to recognize those learning variations, and do my best, by consult specialist and taking time to make sure students with such learning variation, have equally understood the concepts.
Although my recent experience has been involved around the topic or spectroscopy, I am interesting to teach courses, of interfacial phenomena, colloidal stability and their extension in nanotechnology, and bio-interfaces. I was fortunate enough to co-instruct the class of interfacial phenomena I & II, with Dr. Brij M. Moudgil for two years, a course that I had already attended as a student. This gave me a unique view of the course, and helped to deepen my understanding of teaching and learning. I learned how to incorporate new trends and new research outcomes to the eductional components.
Being still young I recognize the fact that teaching is an evolving process, that will keep on changing as the years go by. I have seen teachers that are raw models for me to struggle and devote everything to explain to the students the subject. Although I am not in their level and just starting my career, I am inspired by al those people that have been raw models for me and I will never give up on teaching and learning; the two things that alongside research keep the academic community together.