Teaching
Statement
Valia Allori
Goals in Teaching
If
learning is an endless journey, and I think it is, as a teacher I see myself as
a guide for the student. I want them to look at me as someone to ask for advice
and guidance in the process of learning.
First of all, I think that
presenting material clearly is very important: the teacher needs to consistently
and accurately present the material itself but she needs also to explain the
reason that the particular material was selected. In other words, the class is
supposed to have a structure and the structure has to be clearly and easily
understandable to the student. Instead, too often it happens that the material
is just presented but it is not clear how it is supposed to fit in with the
other information provided by the teacher.
Secondly, I think it is also
important to teach students skills, such as critical and analytical thinking.
That is, once the teacher has provided the student with the basics of the
subject matter, for example provided an introduction to the problems philosophy
deals with, it is important also that they learn how to move into the subject by
themselves. I think that a crucial part of philosophy is done by actively
engaging with it, discussing it, writing about it, thinking about it.
Ultimately, I would like them to be autonomous as students but also– and maybe
more importantly– as persons. This is something that they will need in their
lives as grown–ups whatever they decide to do. In other words, I want to
provide my students with the tools that allow them to be active rather than
passive subjects. That is, what I aim for is to make them critical about what
happens around them and not to take anything passively. Rather, I encourage them
to fight for what they believe to be true with rational arguments.
Class
Structure
I think it is crucial that the students have a
clear idea of what is expected of them, both in class and in the assignments. It
is my intention to provide students with a clear and structured syllabus in
which I describe what will be covered in each class and how every class fits
into the course. Moreover, at the beginning of every class, I remind them where
we have arrived and I tell them where we are heading, so as to give them the
right perspective.
In general, I structure the class in such a way that it is
clear what the aim is, where are we going. For this reason, when I design the
class, I ask myself what is the point I want the students to take home and then
I plan the class accordingly. As a rule of thumb, I think one class–one point is
the best that you can expect to accomplish.
Teaching
Techniques
In order to
accomplish my aims in teaching, I need a combination of lecturing and
interactive teaching style, since I noticed that students –at least some– learn
those skills and even the material better if they are engaged by a teacher who
demands participation and challenges their abilities and their ideas, which is
what I aim to do. I think that lecturing is important to set the basis and
provide examples of what good philosophy is, and discussion is important to
boost students’ autonomy in thinking and arguing. Therefore, when I assign them
a certain text, I care most to teach them how in general a text is analyzed
rather that to teach them something about that particular text. When I explain
the material I proceed as follows. Suppose, as an example, I want them to be
able to reconstruct the argument that a certain philosopher gave. I explain what
the argument is formally, in such a way that they can recognize its structure.
Then I provide examples to illustrate how the logic of that argument is supposed
to work. After having done that, I ask them to provide different examples. When
they can do that, I go a step further and I ask them to compare the argument
with a different one. Then I come to the part in which I explain what the
objections to that argument are and I do that also with examples. Finally, I ask
them as a class to discuss the objections themselves and I challenge them to
find a way to overcome them. That is, after having explained the material, I
engage them in discussions that focus on a challenging question about the issue
that has just been explained. Therefore, the students need to be confident with
the material, they need to come to class prepared to talk. Moreover, to have a
successful discussion, it is important that they learn to listen to what other
people have to say and to understand it. I think that, among the skills they can
learn in my class, this is one of the most important. Only if there is mutual
understanding is it possible to actually engage in a discussion where at the end
we manage to learn something new.
Class
Environment
I require
students to talk in class, both to answer questions and to express their ideas.
I ask a lot of my students: it is not easy to stand up in class knowing that
your fellow classmates and your teacher are there watching you. For this reason,
I also work to make my classroom a safe environment, a place in which they can
feel safe to express what they really think, without the fear of being “judged”
or considered stupid. The first day of class I explain to them that they can
talk freely in my class and that discussion is something healthy to do: we argue
and we disagree to confront our ideas to arrive at a better understanding of the
subject at stake. Even if most of the discussions naturally end up with two
views fighting and arguing one against the other rather heavily, I try to make
the point that criticism is always about the argument proposed and never about
the person, in such a way that nobody should feel offended if someone is
disagreeing with him or her. However, I do not let the discussion get a life of
its own: as a teacher I need to provide structure and direction and I cut out
comments that are out of place and do not focus on the issue at stake. Since I
realize that for a shy person it might be difficult to actually speak up in
class, missing in this way an important part of the process of learning, I
sometimes assign group work. In fact I think that in this way an introverted
person might feel more comfortable to engage in discussion, being more likely to
be active in a small group than in a large class. In the future, I would like to
create a class mailing lists or a web site, and encourage students to
participate both with questions and with answers to other people’s questions.
This will allow for the possibility of a more complete exchange of ideas,
opinions and doubts and I believe it might be useful both for introverted
student who cannot speak in class and in general to clear up misunderstandings.
Homeworks and
Exams
In the assignments
that I give them I try to make sure first that nobody is left behind. Therefore,
in the first assignment I ask them just to present, for example, an argument
that we discussed in class. And only if they successfully accomplish that can we
move to the second step, that is to report what the standard criticisms to the
argument are. Only after they have shown me that they are confident with what
other people have thought about the issue at stake can they engage in creative
thinking, expressing their own opinions on the matter. This is usually what they
are asked to do as a final paper. I encourage students to turn in drafts of
their papers, to come to talk to me during office hours or, if they cannot, to
schedule an appointment with me. This allows me to comment on their writing
and to answer their questions on a one-to-one basis. I think this is very
important: to get to know the students as persons and to try to help them out
according to their personal needs. I try to provide assignments that are clear
and, to avoid possible misunderstanding, I often give examples of what I expect
as a good answer. In addition, I run review sessions to cover problems on what I
think the students might be confused about in preparing the assignment.
Moreover, I always attach at the back of every assignment a grading scale in
which it is clearly explained how and why they got a certain grade and what it
means. Briefly, I try to do my best to allow the students to find themselves in
a situation in which they have control, so that they are finally responsible of
their grade.