Schönwetter, Sokal, Friesen, and Taylor define a teaching philosophy as “a systematic and critical rationale that focuses on the important components defining effective teaching and learning in a particular discipline and/or institutional context” (2002). In other words, a teaching philosophy is a concise statement that allows an education professional to organize and present his or her beliefs and values on how education and instruction should be conducted and how learning occurs. As your knowledge of learning theory evolves, you should begin to construct your own philosophical stance on teaching and learning. You may generate something new and unheard of, or you may synthesize bits and pieces from the theories that you learn about here to generate your teaching philosophy. Either way, by the end of this course, the goal is that you should have a strong understanding of learning theory, and that principle application of those theories will guide your personal teaching philosophy.
For this Application Assignment, you elucidate your current teaching philosophy. After exploring many theories in this course, you revisit and submit a revised version of your teaching philosophy in Week 10.
Reference: Schönwetter, D. J., Sokal, L., Friesen, M., & Taylor, K. (2002). Teaching philosophies reconsidered: A conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements. International Journal for Academic Development, 7(1), 83–97.
The assignment (1 page)
- Explain your current teaching philosophy.
- Based on your philosophy, explain any ideas and practices that facilitate student learning.
- Based on your philosophy, explain how you might assess student learning.
- Please limit your assignment to one page only.