Welcome to my English 150 Teaching Portfolio! 

The belief that change can be brought through education is the most significant aspect of a pedagogical philosophy. A perseverance to bring change, an innate desire, and a dedicated passion to provide and help others to get what they need to reach their goals are the strongest values I believe what makes a teacher.

In my opinion, we never cease to learn, and there are always opportunities to grow and shape ourselves. On this learning path, if we can share our knowledge and our potentials with others who could benefit from the same then we are mutually engaged on a path to enlighten ourselves with this wonderful gift of education. When we share our knowledge, we are not only giving but also taking and learning from the others. This mutual give and take relationship between teachers and students makes the learning process eternal.

As a teacher, I hope to create this understanding in my students that learning is an ongoing process and the style varies for every single individual. Our learning patterns are not the same. So the concept that one size fits all does not apply to everyone. Instead, we learn from understanding our gaps. Therefore, it is crucial to introspect what the gaps are and reflections then are the best tools to help us through this process. In all my classes, I endeavor to help students gain these meta-cognitive skills.

What I fear is that if students are unable to perceive this value of long-term learning and just are focussed on short-term successes, they will never be able to see the true value of academic education. I hope that I can teach them to be patient and face any challenges. I hope to be successful in this mission. My success would be in terms of them understanding where they were and the progress they would make at the end of the semester.

Throughout these fifteen weeks of teaching, the readings have tremendously provided insights and have been great resources along with our mentors’ guidance. What expectations students come with and how to help them transition reflect in the words quoted in Collier’s article, Listening to Students: New Insights into their College Writing Expectation, “Writing is an ongoing learning process and that every new writing task you take on is a new departure…” (12).