The success of a fruitful learning environment comes from the ability to stimulate and engage our students. In the era of technology where endless stimuli are almost always accessible to our students, we must reflect as instructors and think about why we are being outcompeted by technology. I believe that the success in fostering a classroom environment in which students are excited to learn requires establishing your role as the instructor from the beginning while making clear that the learning space is an arena of mutual respect. It is of the utmost importance to acknowledge that students’ brains are stimulated in different ways. We must take on the responsibility to incorporate different types of stimulation into our lectures, whether it be by introducing interactive problem based learning cases, allotting the opportunity for open discussion amongst peers, or getting real-time feedback from the students to evaluate their understanding at any given point of the lecture through an interactive quizzing system such as Kahoot!. While the existence of learning styles has been often deemed controversial, I acknowledge that as humans, we have preferences regarding teaching modalities that keep us more engaged, resulting in better learning productivity. When we are stimulated in our desired learning style, we are less likely to drift off into a state of mindlessness, allowing for one to absorb more information. Thereby, I believe that creating consistent and frequent shifts in the learning environment, is critical for establishing timepoints with the students’ attention span.
Physics is a broad field with many different avenues to be pursued; each comes with its own unique foundation. I have had the privilege of holding multiple appointments as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Physics of Sound course as well as the Physics and Engineering Optics course. Sound and optics are both filled with applications which we all utilize daily. For many students who enroll in these courses, it is their first physics course, motivating me even more to ensure that my students not only leave the course with a meaningful understanding of the material, but also a genuine excitement for the information with which they have been presented. I made it a point to be available and present during lab sections, to facilitate student discussions and hands on applications of the concepts. I believe it is important for students to be supported in many different aspects both within and outside of the classroom. I have always made it a top priority to make myself available at weekly office hours, by email, exam preparation sessions, and willing to meet up individually, as not all students are comfortable seeking the necessary support in larger groups.
In addition to teaching assistantships, I have found myself in educational roles serving as the university's physics tutor for all physics subjects, continuously challenging the boundaries of my own understanding. As these boundaries are occasionally reached, it is important to model academic humility, and seek out external resources, including the course instructor, to work together in pursuing a solution. I believe that humility is of the most importance within a classroom, as it reminds students and teachers alike that it is okay to not always have the answer, and in those cases seeking out help is the only way to learn.
As a current graduate student, I am further committed to improving my skills as an instructor in higher education by pursuing my Future Professoriate Certificate. This certificate aims to prepare future faculty and academic leaders through exposure to concepts that break the mold of existing practices in higher education. It is of my belief that it is our responsibility as educators to acknowledge the new challenges which present themselves within higher education, and to commit to adopting new teaching models and methods to ensure the integrity of our ever-evolving disciplines. I acknowledge that while I am entering the stages of my career in which I am often in the role of educator, I will also continue to be a learner. As learning is forever, it is a part of my teaching philosophy that our approaches in teaching are only as effective as our ability to evolve with our new knowledge and understanding of our teaching environments.
Physics is a broad field with many different avenues to be pursued; each comes with its own unique foundation. I have had the privilege of holding multiple appointments as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Physics of Sound course as well as the Physics and Engineering Optics course. Sound and optics are both filled with applications which we all utilize daily. For many students who enroll in these courses, it is their first physics course, motivating me even more to ensure that my students not only leave the course with a meaningful understanding of the material, but also a genuine excitement for the information with which they have been presented. I made it a point to be available and present during lab sections, to facilitate student discussions and hands on applications of the concepts. I believe it is important for students to be supported in many different aspects both within and outside of the classroom. I have always made it a top priority to make myself available at weekly office hours, by email, exam preparation sessions, and willing to meet up individually, as not all students are comfortable seeking the necessary support in larger groups.
In addition to teaching assistantships, I have found myself in educational roles serving as the university's physics tutor for all physics subjects, continuously challenging the boundaries of my own understanding. As these boundaries are occasionally reached, it is important to model academic humility, and seek out external resources, including the course instructor, to work together in pursuing a solution. I believe that humility is of the most importance within a classroom, as it reminds students and teachers alike that it is okay to not always have the answer, and in those cases seeking out help is the only way to learn.
As a current graduate student, I am further committed to improving my skills as an instructor in higher education by pursuing my Future Professoriate Certificate. This certificate aims to prepare future faculty and academic leaders through exposure to concepts that break the mold of existing practices in higher education. It is of my belief that it is our responsibility as educators to acknowledge the new challenges which present themselves within higher education, and to commit to adopting new teaching models and methods to ensure the integrity of our ever-evolving disciplines. I acknowledge that while I am entering the stages of my career in which I am often in the role of educator, I will also continue to be a learner. As learning is forever, it is a part of my teaching philosophy that our approaches in teaching are only as effective as our ability to evolve with our new knowledge and understanding of our teaching environments.