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Teaching Philosophy
Principles:
Students are responsible for their own learning of mathematics concepts.
Students should be exposed to real-world mathematics applications.
Teachers should use a variety of teaching techniques.
Students need lots of practice with mathematics techniques.
Narrative:
Teaching can be a rewarding career if it is approached in a manner that will help the students learn. To many times teachers enter the classroom without knowing how they will approach the students in order to enhance their learning experience. Neither teachers nor students benefit from this. Teachers should have set principles for dealing with students and teachers must remember to stick to them.
My first principle states that students are responsible for their own learning. I believe that in mathematics you can not teach a student something they do not want to learn. You can force them to do the work and listen to the lectures, but if they are not motivated themselves nothing will be remembered. During my experiences as a Calculus TA and my student aiding there were students who seemed really bright, but they had no motivation to learn. We tried everything to get them interested, but in the end they did not retain any information because they simply did not care. The student must make it their priority to want to learn and do everything they can to learn. The teacher is busy with other students in the class and can not spend all their time with one student. Unless a student takes on this responsibility, they will never learn anything.
A second principle I believe is that students should be introduced to real-world applications to aid their learning experience. Many students do not find mathematics very interesting, but they will normally become more interested in a topic if they can relate to it. For example, finding the slope of a line does not mean very much to a student by itself. If the concept is applied to something such as the ski slope, students will see reasons for studying the material and will find the application interesting. When the students want to become involved they are more likely to remember what they are learning. I feel that applications are essential, especially in the field of mathematics. I have had students ask why they need to learn something. Applying the theories to real-world applications answers their question.
My third principle states that teachers need to use a variety of teaching techniques to enhance each students? learning experience. Not all students learn in the same manner. There are students who learn better when they are lectured to and take notes, while others prefer to visualize and practice the problems rather then listen. I remember that most of my high school mathematics classes were lecture based. I had no problems learning in this manner, but when my little sister entered high school her auditory processing disability prevented her from learning through lecture. She found that things needed to be written in order for her to understand them. In this case, the same method of teaching did not work for both of us. Also, when a teacher uses a variety of teaching techniques the students may not get as bored with the subject. If a class is conducted exactly the same every day they students lose interest and the amount of learning diminishes. Students need a variety of activities to keep them interested in the subject matter. Then learning can continue.
Another principle states that students need lots of practice to aid them in the learning process. This is especially true in mathematics. The more practice a student does the better they will become at the particular concept. In my experience as a Calculus TA I saw the difference between students who did not do practice problems and those who spent a lot of time doing different types of problems. Usually those who spent time doing practice understood the techniques better and performed better on the tests. Practice allows students to utilize formulas in a variety of ways. During this practice the students continue to use the same rules, which in turn become makes them easier to remember. In mathematics, practice is one of the essential elements to remembering the rules for many concepts.
I believe that my teaching/learning philosophy will greatly benefit the students. Teachers and students need to work together to reach an understand of the subject matter. Ultimately learning is the responsibility of the student. No one can be taught something if they do not want to learn. It is the teacher's responsibility to encourage their students and provide them all possible situations in which they could learn. There are many ways of going about reaching this goal and the needs of each student will vary. If teachers and students work together towards a single goal, the students' learning experience will be fulfilling.