Maya Alapin!

Teaching Philosophy for ENG 540

At St. Johns College I enjoyed a radical no-exams, no-professors, no-lectures form of liberal education. The paid teacher was called a tutor and she was more of a facilitator than a pedagogue. In this setting I recognized the importance of the teacher as a touchstone, not a centerpiece. In this liberal arts environment, I also learned to value open, honest conversation devoid of conventional academic pressure. At the University of New Mexico, I teach on this model. My classrooms--both face to face and online--offer open, welcoming environments where bravery, transparency and willingness to grow are praised. In my graduate work at the University of Oxford, I experienced a very different approach to education; one which prized convention and academic excellence above all. Thus, my current teaching combines the relaxed, friendly attitude of my earlier education with the professional demands of my later one. Rousseaus vision of an independent, curious student who helps himself to education guides my pedagogical philosophy. I teach with the belief that one gets far clearer and far surer notions of the things one learns in this way by oneself than of those one gets from anothers teachings (176). I want my students to learn to learn and for my role to diminish as they mature. I promote independence by assigning classroom responsibilities, prioritizing peer review and by using provocative and engaging mediums and course readings. When I encourage students to work in multiple mediums which they themselves choose and design, they automatically engage with decision-making on the audience and purpose of their compositions. As such, I think that incorporating multimodality in my classroom encourages independence in the students judgments. It promotes breadth in their assessment skills as well as the courage to try new things. Peterson and Bond note that for those in the midst of professional development, work and going to school, online learning is a key to success. As a full-time mother, I appreciate the online platform and the worth of the digital experience for my students, many of whom have similar needs to my own. Since over half of all American higher education institutions offer distance learning (Wang and Woo), I teach online and prepare students for online education by using webbased platforms and multimodality in face to face classrooms. Technologies these classes might teach and encourage students to use include Jing, Weebly, Wordpress, Camtasia, GoogleSities, Prezi, Skype, podcast, and video. If students prefer to create traditional multimedia (texts, paintings, other art pieces), they are encouraged to present their products in an online forum. I use two-pronged assignments in order to dovetail traditional work (part A of each assignment) with multimedia projects (part B of each assignment). This allows students an opportunity to make their traditional pen and paper writing relevant, while they may also present work in up-todate and technological ways. My online classes use discussions boards, social networking, online conferencing and other tools that keep the material hip, fresh and imminently accessible. My multimedia assignments invite students to learn software like Weebly, Jing, Prezi, Facebook and wordpress. I not only teach each technology, but I also ask students to reflect on how each medium they learn could be used in the workplace. My classes set up the student for dialogues in various mediums and using diverse media. I see this exposure as enabling the student to gain confidence in using many voices and forms of communication, and therefore as a springboard for life beyond college.