Teaching Portfolio (Essay Sample)

Teaching Portfolio Teaching Portfolio Name Institutional Affiliations Date Teaching Portfolio Biography Haiqi Liang is not just a student at the University of British Columbia; she is also a young woman who shares a passion for teaching adults. Her passion for teaching adults is rooted in the strong conviction that education is a universal and natural right, to be accessed and enjoyed by anyone at any time and at any level. As a young person who shared a person for teaching at a fairly young age, much because of the desire to make a difference in the society, Liang veered sharply from the common path trodden by her peers by committing to contribute to the goal of universal access to education by dedicating her life and career to the most underrepresented group in the field of education; the adults. To Liang, the education of members of the society to end in employment is an anachronistic understanding of education that needs to be discarded if universal education should become a reality. Education of adults, Liang believes, should be aimed at priming this marginalized group with the knowledge needed to make people functional members of the society just like the rest of the population. Liang is a notable figure in adult education forums and functions both at home and abroad and has served in multiple charity organizations in varying capacities. She is an avid fan of pop music and is already learning three foreign languages in order to ensure that her services are more accommodating. Learning Philosophy My passion is to educate adults and make them functional members of society. I understand this is a tall order because of the significant differences between adults and young learners. Without a doubt, adult learners learn differently from young learners and this may pose a challenge to successful classroom instruction. Also, I understand that having already been in the workforce, adult students may not invest a healthy amount of effort in their learning process because they have already acquired the abilities, competencies, and skills that they find important to be recognized with. Therefore, this contentment with already gathered skills may prove a challenge to registering remarkable progress in terms of performance as far as adult learning is concerned. Therefore, from the foregoing, I have surmised that effective adult teaching must display a focus on specific aspects. Firstly, I have dedicated effort and time to continuous personal growth as well as my teaching practices to ensure quality instruction for my students at all times. In my process of self and professional development, I have largely relied on student feedback to keep up with the learning needs of my students by aligning instructions with the complaints and compliments in student feedback. I also hold a strong belief that adult learners come with a rich history of personal experiences which factor in the learning process. As such, the learning process must not only be accommodative and appreciative of these experiences but also must ensure that the learning instruction empowers the learner with the knowledge that can be applied to their day-to-day activities (Secris, 1996). For this reason, I have found two approaches as important steps in this direction. Firstly, I find it thoughtful to assign to students, whether individually or in groups, case study assignments to capture the events that students may have faced or are facing currently, whether at their jobs or In their lives in general. These cases then form rich fodder for analysis and interrogation based on the concepts taught in class. Similarly, I have also found it prudent for students to interact with professionals in a field through interviews. The insights gathered from these interviews are then analyzed through the principals in the adult learning syllabus and inferences drawn from them (Secris, 1996). Ultimately, the intention is to align the learning process with novel events that are relatable to the students. Pedagogies Critical thinking That critical thinking is vital in student learning is not a secret. As such, one of the principal objectives in all my classes is to develop the ability of students to think critically and utilize this skill not only for their personal development but also to achieve professional development. The rationale for maintaining an arrowed focus on developing the critical thinking abilities of each of my students stems from the fact that having been in the workforce and away from class for a substantial amount of time, my students have, in the course of their lifetime, accreted a wide range of opinions, perspectives, and beliefs that may blur their ability to identify bias in their reasoning and develop a healthy degree of appreciation of the learning process. Therefore, my number one job is to challenge these prejudices, cognitive distortions, and perspectives toward various issues in class and beyond. For this reason, classroom instruction majorly employs evidenced approaches such as exposing students to experiments and allowing room for discussion, as well as testing alternatives. Collaborative learning Like other groups of students, I believe adult learners can g...