Teaching Philosophy
by Terrie Nichols
To promote excellent teaching and learning practices in the study of mathematics, a teaching philosophy should be used to guide the instructor in developing learning opportunities. Additionally, the philosophy should provide the basis for determining the structure and content as well as desired student outcomes for course materials including the syllabus, handouts, assignments, and assessment tools. My philosophy includes my beliefs about my students and their learning as well as my teaching and is based primarily upon the three most important outcomes I want for my students and the two main outcomes I want for myself when teaching any course.
Upon successful completion of my course, students should be able to: identify what they need to know to be successful problem solvers, identify and use resources and processes for learning what they need to know but do not already know, and relate newly acquired knowledge or skills to previously acquired knowledge or skills. Also upon successful completion of my course I will have renewed my enthusiasm for mathematics and mathematics education and improved my teaching skills.
I understand that my students are multifaceted and approach the study of mathematics from a broad spectrum of emotions, attitudes, backgrounds, experience, and needs. However, I believe that effective and consistent teaching and learning practices coupled with a balance between instructor leadership and student initiative will enable every student to: apply critical thinking skills in solving problems of everyday life; participate intelligently in civic affairs; compete in the high-performance workplace; develop connections among topics both within mathematics and between disciplines; and acquire an appreciation for the beauty and intrinsic order of mathematics. To promote effective learning, I must model the learning and problem-solving process, emphasize the applicable value of what is being taught, and link new concepts and skills to previously acquired concepts and skills.
Consequently, classroom learning opportunities should include guided discussion, the Socratic method, collaborative learning, problem-based experimentation, and teacher-guided discovery. Furthermore, learning opportunities, assignments, and assessment tools should emphasize student development of the first four levels in Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: i) Knowledge (remembering facts, terms, definitions, and principles), ii) Comprehension (explaining, interpreting, predicting, and summarizing), iii) Application (applying concepts in solving problems), and iv) Analysis (breaking the material down into its component parts to see relationships and hierarchy of ideas).
Finally, every aspect of my course including my syllabus and consequent structure of classroom learning opportunities, homework assignments, and assessment tools should demonstrate my values and beliefs about teaching and learning.
As my student, one of your challenges will be to hold me accountable to these ideals. I look forward to you keeping me on my toes. Now – let’s do some math