TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Lisette Blanco-Cerda
I approach teaching with the enthusiasm of a discoverer. I also encourage this sense of discovery within all the students with whom I work. Because we all have differing backgrounds and learning experiences, I am continuously challenged to discover new and innovative approaches to my teaching to appeal to the students’ diverse learning styles and abilities. I believe taking intellectual risks while maintaining rigor is inherent in true learning, so I emphasize both risk taking and rigor to all my students. Furthermore, I also believe that as we learn, we all have a moral imperative to share our knowledge and discoveries with others.
Fundamental to my teaching philosophy and underlying the various activities I design for my students is critical thinking. Because of my undergraduate minor in philosophy, I employ the Socratic method to guide my students into deeper and increasingly complex levels of thought and to recognize patterns and connections through questioning and doubting. I am an ardent believer in guiding students by modeling critical thinking and self-assessment skills, and I readily enforce the idea that critical thinking involves disciplined thinking. I believe the development of critical thinking skills is essential to a solid college education and to engaged citizenry.
I am a long-time practitioner and proponent of what is now referred to as the "flipped classroom," a place where students engage in active learning, problem solving, and meaning making while I serve as the guide. I also utilize technology and a sense of play in the classroom and as learning tools. Not only do I use various forms of technology, I also encourage students to create digital products in the belief that becoming producers, rather than simply consumers, of digital media is essential to strengthening digital literacy skills. I have used and continue to use basic video, webpage design, social media, from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to podcasts, blogs, vlogs, and multimodal video. Since my 1992 initiation to The Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment, I have seen the benefits of technology in the classroom. I have since come to believe that the computer classroom, assorted digital technologies, and learning through play hold incredible potential in reaching out to students and inviting them to take ownership of their own education.
Fundamental to my teaching philosophy and underlying the various activities I design for my students is critical thinking. Because of my undergraduate minor in philosophy, I employ the Socratic method to guide my students into deeper and increasingly complex levels of thought and to recognize patterns and connections through questioning and doubting. I am an ardent believer in guiding students by modeling critical thinking and self-assessment skills, and I readily enforce the idea that critical thinking involves disciplined thinking. I believe the development of critical thinking skills is essential to a solid college education and to engaged citizenry.
I am a long-time practitioner and proponent of what is now referred to as the "flipped classroom," a place where students engage in active learning, problem solving, and meaning making while I serve as the guide. I also utilize technology and a sense of play in the classroom and as learning tools. Not only do I use various forms of technology, I also encourage students to create digital products in the belief that becoming producers, rather than simply consumers, of digital media is essential to strengthening digital literacy skills. I have used and continue to use basic video, webpage design, social media, from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to podcasts, blogs, vlogs, and multimodal video. Since my 1992 initiation to The Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment, I have seen the benefits of technology in the classroom. I have since come to believe that the computer classroom, assorted digital technologies, and learning through play hold incredible potential in reaching out to students and inviting them to take ownership of their own education.
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Banner image is of the Redemption Rock in Princeton, Massachusetts, site of the ransom negotiation of Mary Rowlandson from her Native American captors in 1676. Image was uploaded by Wikimedia Commons user Sfoskett.
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