My Personal Teaching Philosophy and Style
As I have reflected on my teaching philosophy and style two words keep coming to mind, eclectic and hodgepodge. I suppose it reflects where I am on the continuum of application and learning at any given moment. My students are a diverse bunch from many different countries, cultures, learning styles, educational backgrounds and socio-economic levels. I use a wide range of strategies, tactics and approaches while teaching in-person which is also reflected in my online teaching within the restrictions of the technology and my creativity. If I were to condense my personal teaching philosophy and style down to one phrase it would be “whatever works in the moment”.
I primarily teach Executive Coaching and Leadership to adults. My teaching is driven by the intention to address the Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor domains throughout the full range of Blooms Taxonomy to support mastery of the subject matter demonstrated by individuals, coaching at the Professional Certified Coaches level. I teach beginner programs right through to what could be classified as a post-graduate level. An added complication or factor would be that students entering the program range from absolute neophytes to people with great experience and training in other coaching models who may classify themselves as expert (and may not be).
There is a distinct Behaviourist component to what I teach as the students are learning a measurable set of skills as defined both by the program and a third party (International Coach Federation). Although students learn new skills throughout each module, existing skills are reviewed and deepened as the students move forward. Learners practice what they learn and are provided with feedback from their practice. I incorporate rewards into the program in creative ways such as pseudo “game show” contests with either real or virtual prizes (rewards).
There is also a distinct Cognitive component in the teaching and learning. There is an intention to support learners to build their own unique links to value what they are learning and connecting not only to their professional, but also their personal life and relationships. There are distinct moments intending to link past occurrences and history to what they are learning and support reorganization based on the new awareness. Students are not only taught about memory organization, conscious and unconscious brain strengths and limitations, but also strategies to incorporate these concepts into their learning and practice as coaches. There is much attention paid to supporting a blend of Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic learning styles with often the Kinesthetic being the most challenging due to the technical limitations of online learning.
More and more I am incorporating and integrating the Constructivist perspective into the mix. I am finding this both a joy and a challenge especially given the spread of cultural learning styles my students have. I am finding this much easier to incorporate into my in-person classes than in my online as the geographical and cultural spread is much more marked in the online. The concept of learner as teacher, presenter, mentor, partner-in-learning, researcher and entertainer is proving more and more successful as I am able to adapt to the different cultural components that students expect in their training. For example, breaking into small groups to research a concept and then presenting it in the form of a skit or song works much more effectively in Brazil than in China. Reflection, especially incorporating the future component is much more comfortable in China than in Eastern Europe.
Interestingly the Connectivist perspective shows up predominately as a negative driver with students. They often go through a stage of trying to discard or negate the prior knowledge they have in the subject areas being taught. There is a strong internal conflict created until they understand and become more comfortable building on and improving on their prior knowledge with the new concepts and skills being taught.
Students are assessed in both a formative and summative manner. Students are also encouraged to self assess or become self aware of their progressively increasing skill set.
Overall, for me, the desire to have my students derive the most from their learning experience is the number one factor supporting my forward movement and growth as a teacher. The second is the smile on their faces when the “lightbulb turns on”. One other critical component for me when teaching is the modeling and emphasizing that mistakes are simply creative steps and linkages to a greater level of awareness and success.
I primarily teach Executive Coaching and Leadership to adults. My teaching is driven by the intention to address the Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor domains throughout the full range of Blooms Taxonomy to support mastery of the subject matter demonstrated by individuals, coaching at the Professional Certified Coaches level. I teach beginner programs right through to what could be classified as a post-graduate level. An added complication or factor would be that students entering the program range from absolute neophytes to people with great experience and training in other coaching models who may classify themselves as expert (and may not be).
There is a distinct Behaviourist component to what I teach as the students are learning a measurable set of skills as defined both by the program and a third party (International Coach Federation). Although students learn new skills throughout each module, existing skills are reviewed and deepened as the students move forward. Learners practice what they learn and are provided with feedback from their practice. I incorporate rewards into the program in creative ways such as pseudo “game show” contests with either real or virtual prizes (rewards).
There is also a distinct Cognitive component in the teaching and learning. There is an intention to support learners to build their own unique links to value what they are learning and connecting not only to their professional, but also their personal life and relationships. There are distinct moments intending to link past occurrences and history to what they are learning and support reorganization based on the new awareness. Students are not only taught about memory organization, conscious and unconscious brain strengths and limitations, but also strategies to incorporate these concepts into their learning and practice as coaches. There is much attention paid to supporting a blend of Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic learning styles with often the Kinesthetic being the most challenging due to the technical limitations of online learning.
More and more I am incorporating and integrating the Constructivist perspective into the mix. I am finding this both a joy and a challenge especially given the spread of cultural learning styles my students have. I am finding this much easier to incorporate into my in-person classes than in my online as the geographical and cultural spread is much more marked in the online. The concept of learner as teacher, presenter, mentor, partner-in-learning, researcher and entertainer is proving more and more successful as I am able to adapt to the different cultural components that students expect in their training. For example, breaking into small groups to research a concept and then presenting it in the form of a skit or song works much more effectively in Brazil than in China. Reflection, especially incorporating the future component is much more comfortable in China than in Eastern Europe.
Interestingly the Connectivist perspective shows up predominately as a negative driver with students. They often go through a stage of trying to discard or negate the prior knowledge they have in the subject areas being taught. There is a strong internal conflict created until they understand and become more comfortable building on and improving on their prior knowledge with the new concepts and skills being taught.
Students are assessed in both a formative and summative manner. Students are also encouraged to self assess or become self aware of their progressively increasing skill set.
Overall, for me, the desire to have my students derive the most from their learning experience is the number one factor supporting my forward movement and growth as a teacher. The second is the smile on their faces when the “lightbulb turns on”. One other critical component for me when teaching is the modeling and emphasizing that mistakes are simply creative steps and linkages to a greater level of awareness and success.