Teaching

Teaching Statement: 

The core of my teaching philosophy, which is largely derived from my own previous instructors, is for students to learn how to write effectively in multiple genres/forms and feel confident producing significant pieces of writing according to a variety of guidelines. This spans across my experience teaching high school and college. While parts of my classes are small groups and parts are lectures, I think whole-class discussions are most effective for me students. They get a chance to hear from their peers and work through the problems with each other rather than hearing me explain it. Hearing each other’s perspectives and considering differing opinions or viewpoints encourages cooperative learning as well as encourage students to speak up and participate. I want students to walk away from my class not just knowing how to write a specific assignment for class, but how to write well on whatever they need to write. I also like to break up larger assignments into smaller, manageable pieces that build on one another. This structured approach to assignments makes the assignment manageable not just physically but psychologically for the student. The smaller tasks build confidence, experience, and learning so that they are better equipped to take on the bigger assignments. These skills of confidence, conventions, good writing practices, and academic writing are what I want to transfer, so nothing is ever taught as a one-time use. I like to give examples of how these skills can transfer to other classes and professions. I like to teach multiple methods of approach to every assignment so that students never feel like there is one “correct” way to do something that could be achieved in many ways. This encourages individuality as well as develops critical thinking to think beyond the beaten path. I also encourage practical skills such as public speaking, self-revision of writing, and critical thinking. These are skills that transfer to almost any other field or career. If the objective of English classes is to teach students academic writing and best writing practices, then it is critical that they learn these skills and feel confident reproducing them after they leave my class. Ultimately, I want students to get practical skills that they can use beyond my class and confidence in their abilities so that they can be successful in their chosen field.

Teaching Experiences (Formal and Informal)

My formal teaching experience is perhaps a little different from others. Upon my impending graduation from USF in 2016, I began applying for teaching jobs. I ultimately accepted a job teaching high school at a small private school in the Tampa Bay area. I did not have an education degree or any experience in an interning teaching program, so my school required me to take certain education classes at USF in preparation. I was there for three years and taught high school English mostly, but because it was a small school, I also taught a few other classes. I taught English for grades 9-11, AP Literature, and a creative writing elective, as well as U.S. History, Old Testament Survey, and American Sign Language. I also coached the brain bowl team for two years, coached a fine arts team for one year before judging for two years, sponsored the class of 2020 (a job that included fundraising and event planning), was an ACT and SAT tester, helped direct theater programs, and other smaller tasks. This job was challenging in many ways because I was a brand-new teacher thrown into a classroom of high schoolers with six preps. I loved the school and the students, and with time, I got better at what I was doing. I began pursuing my master’s degree, but the struggle between devoting all of my energy to my job and to my degree proved to be too much, so I chose to leave that job and pursue the wonderful opportunity of attending USF full-time and teaching as a graduate assistant. I taught ENC 1101 Composition 1 and 2, which in terms of curriculum is extremely different from what I taught previously, but the students were so similar. I found that many of my classroom strategies transferred, though classroom management was far less of an issue. During that time, I also did some substitute teaching at a large private school and a charter school. Upon graduation, I returned to the high school classroom to teach advanced college-level English classes (AP Language, AP Literature, Dual Enrollment Composition 1 and 2) as well as direct theater programs. Teaching college-level classes at the high school level is a wonderful challenge that I enjoy and feel well prepared for because of my previous high school experience and experience at the university level. Though my teaching experience falls into three very different atmospheres, I feel that the skills all transfer and blend beautifully.

My informal teaching experience is not nearly as complex as my formal experience. In high school, I was in a tutoring program where my class notes were used to help students who were struggling. Periodically, I would come in to help explain what I had written and aid the students by using material that was discussed in class which the tutors could not have known. I also worked in the preschool ministry at my church teaching and caring for the 1-3-year olds. In college, my teaching experience was extremely informal as I often proofread papers for my friends who struggled with grammar and syntax. Once I started teaching high school, I tutored most of our international students to fill in the gaps where they were struggling with the language. The students with whom I worked came from countries such as China, Ukraine, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Czech Republic. Some of these students still contact me periodically to ask questions now that they have started college, and that experience of working with students whose first language was not English prepared me for my position in a university with a high international population. It also forced me to think of new ways to teach concepts familiar to me to make them accessible to these students. I feel it ultimately made me better at differentiation in the classroom.