Teaching Philosophy

Teaching philosophy statement
Dr. Omran Akasha

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela

My experience as a student learned English as a second language for several years and in different locations from North Africa to Europe and North America helped me to be aware of diversity and it has taught me that we learn from everyday experiences. My knowledge, has always been, and will always be through my reading and experience as student, teacher, and leader so there is no time to stop learning. As student, it was very helpful to be taught by different instructors that inspired my knowledge later. One of the moments I still remember was my first experience as a learner of English sitting with different students from all over the world. In that particular class, I learned how teachers could make the classroom effective, informative,  and enjoyable despite the differences between the groups. I also learned how the classroom could be amazing when teachers give a chance to everyone to participate; yet the classroom was full of fun, love and respect.

Giving many choices that could fit everyone despite the differences can be a challenge, but to me effective teachers can always have the choice to make a positive classroom experience possible if they plan their lesson without ignoring their students’ needs, their prior knowledge and experiences. In other words, there is not one size fits all, instead as a teacher I should take into account all the factors that make my students engage in the classroom. Thus, it is my responsibility to know who my students are, what kind of knowledge and experience they bring to the class, and what they want in order to achieve their learning goals so that I can choose a lesson that fits their needs and yet leaves enough room to accommodate topics that emerge from the students themselves. 

My objective as a teacher is to motivate my students so they can establish a strong relationship with each other and create a cohesive classroom environment. I believe that effective teachers can make a change in their classroom if they plan ahead of time and prepare their classroom based on their students’ needs. I can see myself as a teacher and as a leader who can make a change based on the students' needs. Knowledge is important, but it is also important to find an effective way to enable my students to learn how to use the knowledge positively that could be a challenge and different from one to another. Therefore, knowing my students is the key to success because then I can provide them with the knowledge they need and let them achieve their goals based on their own experiences. 

In my own teaching experience at the university level, motivating and engaging my students was my first priority. At that time, I taught some students who were totally less confident due to their little experience in spoken English. As a teacher, I had to make them participate in the oral skill classes and they were required to engage with English in the classroom. One of the strategies I used was to have them discuss in small groups to increase their self-confidence and anxiety. I repeated this strategy several times and then I encouraged them to prepare a topic of their interest to present to the class. Although it was difficult to some at the beginning, most students were able to present a successful topic to their class, part of the fact that they were enabled to use their own interest. Yet, those who were reluctant to participate at the beginning, they were able to present their topics better or equal to everyone else. This experience taught me that there is no best way to teach the language. Instead, knowing your students can make things better.

In addition, I had to work with my colleagues to help develop the English department office to provide good teaching quality to the students. My role as the examination coordinator at the department of English helped me to build my leadership skills that I believe it is an essential part to develop my teaching skills. At that time, I was able to make a big change in the department by enabling technology in the process that was far behind. I ended up this experience by saving time and producing a high quality service to the students in particular, and to the college in general. Making a change thus is very important that as a teacher I should have in mind whenever possible.

I believe that, it is part of my career to develop my teaching strategies by participating into workshops and other teacher training activities. Today, many things are changed rapidly so there is a real need to make a change in our way of teaching based on different factors. For example, technology is very important and it is essential in our daily life includes the use of technology in the classrooms and office. Indeed technology is an essential part in my daily work in order to facilitate my work and make it look better. In addition, participating and presenting in conferences could be very useful to share our experiences with others in the field. I will continue to share my knowledge and skills in a collaborative way with others in order to achieve our goals, prepare our students and equip them with the weapons of mass education to change the world positively.

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