Welcome to Teaching Philosophy Statement Peer Feedback
Teaching Philosophy Statement 1: Learner Name Withheld
“If it weren't for fear, I wouldn't have to teach you a damn thing” – Keith Johnstone
I teach improvisation skills (improv) to individuals, teams and organisations. I also teach improv as a performing art to actors, comedians, writers and individuals in a 4 Level structured program.
To some people, the act of improvising is; speaking off the cuff; making decisions under pressure; building effective teams in poor performing areas; speaking to influence. These areas are where a person can feel very much out of their comfort zone or even associate with fear and anxiety. My passion as a trainer is guiding students through the process for them to first overcome their fear and go on to potentially master the area he/she wishes to develop further. People choose to undertake this type of training for different reasons. E.G. To increase confidence; to be able to present with impact; to improve creativity.
My format for my training and courses undertakes a non-traditional classroom based approach. Classes are practical and applied, with people learning by doing where people are taught through individual and group based exercises.
As with Kolb’s Learning cycle (1984), it is recognised that we all learn in different ways. With this training, people have opportunities to learn by doing, observing, reflecting and thinking throughout the classes. Formative and peer feedback is used throughout every class.
As a trainer in this area, it’s very important that empathy and a positive, supportive environment is created in order to have a fertile ground for the learning and development to take place.
The effects on students can be profound and the immediate reactions gathered from the students after completion of a course always amazes me. Some have even gone as far as saying that it has changed their life. As a trainer, this is the best evaluation possible.
Teaching Philosopy Statement Feedback: G. Martin
Hi, I enjoyed your statement. Some elements I could immediately relate to, such as "speaking to influence" from a teaching point, and the profound effect that you as a "teacher", can have. A teaching philosophy statement is personal and so can vary in length, usually 1-2 pages - you might benefit from giving some additional information/referencing to your statement. It is very difficult to grade a statement which covers a subject that is less structured due the subject itself (hope that's clear!). I feel that, along with additional referencing, you could pull on similar programmes offered internationally to back up your teaching philosophy. You made statements on being empathetic, positive and supportive, and I would love to read how it applies to improv in a practical sense. The programme you present could be integrated into many other courses as it fundamentally teaches people skills, and I would love to read more evidence of the benefits of improv. Good work, this time next year Rodney.....
Teaching Philosophy Statement 2: Learner Name Withheld
Marketing and International Marketing have been my single passion in terms of my focus of my career over the past 20 years, taking
me from Dublin to London and then to Russia and back again. In my teaching I am excited to share what now amounts to a wealth of experience in the field with my students. The challenge for me is to narrow down that entire experience into relevant and accessible bites of knowledge that translates into lifelong learning for my students.
My goal is for the students in my class to be engaged and interested by the material that we cover. I want them to be clearly able to understand the theories that we cover but also have the ability to be able to apply them in a practical setting. Marketing and digital marketing jobs in this era are skilled base and I feel an emphasis on theory alone will not allow them develop in this discipline in the future. In addition to building life skills and developing graduate attributes, I want my students to have a full grounding in all the terminology around ebusiness and digital marketing so that should they find themselves within a discussion in a real business that they would understand the main themes of the discussion.
In this context, I also use regular examples from real clients in my own marketing consultancy to back up the theory that we are doing in class. The students always engage in a more tangible way with real life examples. I continually try to bring what is current into the classroom and make it a policy to regularly introduce news items, video clips or conference material etc to make everything I am doing as relevant and fresh as possible. These different media also help me to engage with the diverse learning styles of my international classroom.
My focus is to continually introduce more interactive and problem based work to encourage their deeper learning and engagement with the course content. I know that the students are engaged when we do group activities and you can see the students seeking to gain ownership of the various ideas they are personally passionate about. When a student makes a significant contribution to a topic or a group debate or exercise, it is at that moment that they are personally engaging. More recently I have focused more on making these student-led moments happen and have tried to balance that with the pressures of completing the course material for exam purposes. As Gardner states (1993) “The greatest enemy of understanding is coverage”. I use group exercises, class debates, student led presentations and quizzes to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and also as a means for giving formative feedback. I try to mix groups up to encourage diversity within the student groups and discussions. I like to develop a friendly and respectful relationship with my students and try where possible to remember people by name over the course of the term.
I personally have a deep respect for lifelong learning and in this respect continue to embrace my own personal improvement as an educator by sharing ideas with colleagues, reading on education but most of all by experimenting in the classrooms with different tactics to help engage my learners. I would like my students to respect learning in the same way but understand that the classroom is mixed with various diverse backgrounds and people with very diverse intent. Nonetheless I continue to engage with each and every one of them to encourage reading, sharing, discussing and interacting with the material. I encourage reading academic texts to support the theme we are discussing in class and believe that critical thinking and evaluation of these academic texts are essential skill for every student and every disciplines
I am guided by ethics that mean that in each and every session I will always be punctual, do my best to engage the learners and continue to try and stimulate interest in learning. I believe that not being prepared for a class is a mark of disrespect for my student’s time. In sum, I believe all students have a right to learn in the classroom and that it is my role to deliver that learning by engendering engagement and passion in my subject area.
Teaching Philosopy Statement Feedback: G. Martin
Hi. Enjoyed reading your teaching philosophy statement, in particular when you described the difficulty in narrowing the knowledge/experiences you have into bite size pieces for your students! Also the necessity for building life skills into training programmes was well supported by your personal experiences. As we go deeper into learning however, your statement would be better supported by additional referencing to back up your knowledge and experience. Your statement gave me a great picture of you as a tutor, great work!
Teaching Philosophy Statement 2: Learner Name Withheld
My teaching philosophy has developed over time and has been influenced by a number of experiences. I have been involved in education over many years, from level 8 programme design, to teaching learners from a variety of backgrounds and ages, from teens to the mature learner. These teaching experiences have been in various settings, post-secondary school, business, night school and summer courses and at third level. A combination of my teaching experiences along with my time spent working within the design industry, my reflection on my personal experience of graduate and post-graduate education in design and visual education, TEFL, teacher training and overseas visits reviewing third level design colleges and programmes; all have informed my practice.
My art and design education started at a vocational level, progressing to a certificate in visual communication at IADT and then to level 8 at the University of Ulster. It was while studying Textiles and Fashion Design at UUI in the Faculty of Fine and Decorative Arts, I experience the Faculty change in name and outlook to the Faculty of Design in Industry. This change allowed me to experience a year working in industry, adding a Diploma In Industrial Studies to my BA Honours Degree, which informed my view that education in creative design, professional practice , and industry are intrinsically linked. Learners should be supported not only with a creative education alone but also with a broader range of business, entrepreneurial and team leadership skills, supporting their readiness to practice. While working as a designer for over ten years in Europe and Asia I gained a clear understanding that collaboration, digital competencies, and knowledge of business, brand and marketing are key skills to be a successful designer. I developed a strong belief that these skills should be included in third level design programmes, to equip graduates with these additional skills so they are industry ready, or are prepared to work as self-practitioners of design. My return to education to study an MA in Design in Digital Media at DIT confirmed my belief that education is a lifelong learning journey and design programmes should not only include core design skills but also prepare graduates to successfully function within teams with business competencies are essential outcomes.
As a working designer, creative design, new innovative materials, attention to detail and quality are intrinsic to my work, these also qualities influence my teaching practice and are supportive of Griffith's mission statement Pursuing excellence in applied education. I believe in pursuing excellence through a supportive applied design education, engaging and motivating the learner through a variety of effective teaching and assessment practices, such as tutor and peer demonstration, authentic problem-based learning, team project work, cross-faculty collaboration, group critique, peer assessment to evaluate and improve. My role is to inspire, build confidence and motivate the learner to develop creative design, critical thinking, and professional practice skills through active engagement with the learning outcomes, to be the very best they can be at that point along their journey. My wish is that each graduate has transformed as they progress through their programme, to graduate with a belief and confidence that that are practising designers.
I feel that each learner must be clear regarding what is expected from them, that from the start of the programme they know in advance what they must achieve and when. So the programme is delivered in a systematic way, learners receive a programme handbook, module handbooks which clearly set out the objectives, curriculum, recommended reading, resources class plans, assignments, and marking criteria/feedback sheets. All assessments have marking criteria aligned against the learning outcomes. At the beginning of the year, the learners receive an assignment hand-up overview which outlines each hand-up date and key event dates. As programme director, I continually look at best practice and have pre-semester, mid-semester and annual review meetings with staff, and learners, and through the annual programme review, set out new processes and developments where required.
I feel strongly that good teaching practice, is a constant process of learner observation, reflecting and evaluating, modifying to progress and improve, always updating, striving to better the learner's experience and outcomes. Loughran 1996 (as cited by O'Farrell 2007) expressed that teaching philosophies are shaped by the individuals learning experiences and teaching practices and to express them requires a process of reflection which is necessary to genuine academic development.
By writing this philosophy it brings the opportunity to clarify and reflect on my teaching values and approaches, consider teaching theories and practices that will inform new ideas into the future. As a programme director, I see the value in sharing my passion and beliefs with my learners, colleagues, and stakeholders, this brings the opportunity to discuss the programme values and goals, and perhaps guide, inspire innovation, productivity and success as we move forward. I am fortunate to be a part of the design faculty as the very nature of design with the various practical and theoretical module strands, affords the learners to experience a variety of
teaching and assessment methods. Although we teach skills and processes, learners are guided and encouraged to develop project work independently, to develop adaptability, initiative and creative critical thinking through research and problem solving. Our design programmes afford the learner the opportunity to approach their learning in different ways. Learners are credited for experimenting and exploring innovative solutions, this criteria intrinsically supports different learning styles allowing the learner to explore personal expression, experiment and develop to attain the learning outcomes. The very essences of design is a reiterative process of evaluating and improving, always striving to explore and create something new and improve standards.
Goodyear (1998) defined the role of the role of a Teaching Philosophy Statement as means to identify your commitments and responsibilities of teaching, research, and service. I am fortunate my role as programme director allows me to balance my teaching with academic programme research and development, to ensure the ongoing attainment of international standards encouraing student exchange. Through Griffiths international network of affiliations, I have reviewed course work and programmes and established both International and European partnerships, ensuring our programmes are up to date, aligned, future and proofed. My role has further enabled me to build relationships with the industry and local community, who have been actively involved supporting and informing our programme and adding to our authentic learning experience of our learners.
As programme director my teaching practice allows me to build a close relationship with each individual student, the very nature of design project work allows for much guidance one to one feedback and support. As often we have small student cohorts I have played a combined role as director, year head and tutor and so have a lot of contact with each student. I advise on careers, organize internship placements and work with the student during the graduate creative show, with such an open door policy builds the learners confidence and gives them a strong sense of connection with the faculty. I keep in regular contact with all alumni, keeping them up to date on jobs and events and following their career develpoment.
Bibliography
Goodyear, G. E. & Allchin, D. (1998) Statement of teaching philosophy. To Improve the Academy 17, 103-22. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press
Loughran, J. 1996, Developing Reflective Practice, Falmer Press, London.
O’Farrell, C., (2007) Teaching portfolio practice in Ireland: a handbook, Dublin: Trinity College Dublin
Teaching Philosopy Statement Feedback: G. Martin
Very strong submission. In-depth description of your experiences as both a student and tutor and how these experiences guided your thoughts on teaching. You have referenced previous authors to support your arguments. The only issue, and it may not be an issue as such, is word count. From my research, teaching philosophy statements are usually 1-2 pages, your word count is hitting 1200 which may be a bit on the high side. Teaching philosophy statements are however personal, so I might be wrong on the word count. Great work!
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