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My Teaching
I still see myself as a novice
teacher who is still developing my own teaching approach, constantly reflecting
on daily practice, and improve instructional skills.
I started teaching from 2009,
working as a teaching assistant at UBC, where I taught first and second year
chemistry courses. In 2013, I relocated to Illinois and have being teaching
chemistry and physics lab courses at University of Illinois at Springfield
since then. Most of my students are in their 20’s with some of them in their
30’s who return to school to complete the degree.
Because of the nature of the lab
courses, students usually watch videos, and preview the instruction materials,
and take a pre-lab quiz before walking into the lab. In the lab, I start by a
10-15 minutes lecture where I pinpoint where students need to pay attention to,
and have some class discussions too. Then students work in groups of 2-3, and
practice hands-on-skills. I always walk around in the lab and answer questions.
The weekly assessment is the lab report in which students develop scientific
writing skills, and demonstrate their understanding of concepts by answering
particular questions. It is student-centered however, with a considerable
amount of guidance from the teacher. My goal is to help my students become more
self-directed, apply what they’ve learned before, research on resources, and
work towards solving the actual problem (for higher level courses). My feedback
to them also includes a descriptive comment of their actual work, also comment
of their learning strategies.
Reflection
When I read the word “professional practice”, the first
image that came to my mind is a highly experienced teacher standing in the
middle of the classroom, surrounded by students, who confidently and resourcefully
deliver a lesson. Also this teacher is responsive to questions that students
raise, and always come up with the right approach to lead students towards
being a self-directed, and self-motivated learner. Frequent, deep and
comprehensive reflective thinking is also part of the professional practice. Besides
these, professional teaching practice also means a solid understanding of
ethical principles, codes of conduct, and professional behavior in and out of
the classroom. A sustainable professional practice and training also includes
development of a personal career plan that leads to where best suits personal
interest and where one bring in higher impact to global educational system.
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