Teaching Philosopy

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

The United Nations recognise education as the fourth rank in the SDG. It indicates the importance of teaching.

My Perspective on Education:

Education is critical since it mods ideas for generations of kids. As Nelson Mandela stated, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." The United Nations ranked 'Quality Education' as the 4th goal in their SDG and highlighted the importance of accessing a quality education. "Education is the key that will allow many other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved. When people are able to get quality education they can break from the cycle of poverty." Jaime Escalante even comments that "Education is the ticket to success."

That's why I trust in the power of Education. Yet, I will have a slight adjustment that Education in a developed country is just an entry ticket into society. When a Bachelor's is already standard in Macao, we have an unspoken secret that education is the entry ticket to society. Therefore, I will define education as a way to stretch the maximum of an individual's possibilities in life other than work success. I believe that education should empower individuals to explore their unique strengths and interests, fostering a lifelong love for learning. It is not merely about obtaining a degree but about developing critical thinking, creativity, and resilience.

Role of the teacher:

The role of the teacher is to assist them in finding, exploring, and achieving their goals, letting students know that the world is too big to have many limitations. There might be jobs and talents that could not be found in school or Macao. In the classroom, it is my responsibility to let them know about social events and reveal more talents besides academic success. Aside from transmitting ready-made knowledge, essential skills like virtues, reflection, critical thinking, and communication should be well nurtured during the academic journey. The school prepares individuals to live in a society. Therefore, educators should have a positive growth mindset and allow more social experiences to flow into the classroom.

Meaningful Teaching:

Standardized education is good but I think teachers should not be robots and repeat the knowledge learnt by all generations. As Jean Piaget said, Like Jean Piaget said, "The principal goal of education should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done." Teachers should provide students with student's interested direction and resources to learn. These are the keys for them to have sustainable learning in society. It means helping lower achievers learn the essence of topics and providing more experiences to search for their talents. Supporting higher achievers in mastering and reaching resource specialists to nurture the unreachable talents in school-based learning.

My Idea: Everyone can be your teacher

My Perspective on Teaching Value(s):

Education should prepare and let individuals learn to live in society. We send the children to school, where they get involved in a small community. With their peers, they find hidden values that the teacher cannot teach. As Andrew Vachss states,

"All children are born pure egoists. They perceive their needs to the exclusion of all others. Only through socialisation do they learn that some forms of gratification must be deferred and others denied."

My ideal teaching value is not about following the literal meaning of the teacher. Yet, they learn the value by observing and comparing theirs' to their peers. Friends are always effective teachers because they give you lessons you can memorise years after graduation. Therefore, teaching value can be achieved anywhere and at any time if the teacher allows interaction in class.

With both principles, teachers are ready to promote quality and inclusive education. I trust quality education never goes far from these five aspects: 1) Student-centred learning, 2) Collaborative instruction, 3) Supportive environment and 4) Reflective moment.

Idea 1: Look at the world through the lens of students and create a lesson that can connect to their daily needs and curiosity. Lessons will be effective.

1) Student-centred learning

My experience: The class I encountered has a significant learning gap between students. High achievers master most of the book content. Meanwhile, low achievers struggle to understand the sight language. Students cannot follow the teaching pace in class.

Set Goal: I set and share my intended learning outcomes (ILOs) for each class with the students. These goals let them know what they need to learn and assess at the end.

Differentiation: Although I cannot change the standard, I can change the complexity of the content. the process of how I teach.

A Small Teacher in class

2) Collaborative Learning

My experience: A student's attention spans are 10 to 15 minutes. After a specific time, students will find other things to do, like playing with stationary or doodling on their textbooks. Letting them talk with their classmates and wake them up will be best.

Think-Pair-Share: Students start to think when more opinions come from their partners and seatmates. Students tend to listen, remember, and judge their classmates' work rather than teachers'. Most learning, like critical thinking and manners, can be practised during discussion. This also allows the most shy one to interact in the class.

Small Teacher: Teaching is the highest form of showing you master the knowledge. Therefore, I will invite some high-achieving students to explain their concepts. For example, after a few demonstrations on a mathematical problem, I will invite a student to come out to teach a similar word problem. Let the student talk about his thinking process to solve the question. Low achievers will also gain a new perspective on learning.

3) Technology Assistance

I could describe technology as my partner in the classroom. One of my favourite websites is Nearpod, which has many features. I can show PowerPoint, input some questions on the discussion board, insert VR to show unknown locations in the textbook and assign games to assess their knowledge. After their performance on the websites, I can check everyone’s results and target the students who are below average to help. Students can revisit and practice their lesson with a student code.

4) Mutual Respect Environment

My experience: This idea was learnt in my first class. I started the class too suddenly, and students were still running around. I needed to yell out to get the attention, but I knew it was ineffective as students started to talk over me again. Sometimes, students are not emotionally prepared and behavioural problems arise in the middle of the class. Therefore, I reflect on the importance of class rules and routines.

Class Rules: I should set clear behavioural expectations, such as "listening before speaking" in the first class. Class rules help to depict how a respectful classroom looks like and define acceptable behaviours in class. With this foundation, I can manage my daily class more smoothly and address behavioural problems more efficiently.

Class Routine: When the class starts, I should give students a class routine, such as reading vocabulary. When these behaviours become consistent, students automatically take out the textbook and return to their seats. As a result, students can physically and mentally prepare themselves before the class begins.

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