Philemon A.

My teaching philosophy mainly applies the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Constructivists believe that one has to adapt to the environment to acquire knowledge. “In the process, one reshapes the acquired knowledge and creates new knowledge” (Sternberg, 2008). Constructivist learners acquire knowledge by blending their present and past experiences to make discoveries (Mayer, 2003). To learn the constructivist way, the learner should make sense of things instead of accepting information at its face value. My experience with this philosophy is I present problems or issues related to topics to be taught for class discussion; instead of going straight to the point, I encourage or allow students to reflect on the problem and construct their solution to solving the issue. This sometimes is done in pairs or individually.

First is to establish a personal rapport with the student - I will first welcome the student to the session, then introduce myself as the one to take them through the session. Afterward, I will ask the student their expectations for the subject throughout the session. I will then explain to the student how the session will work (the student can ask questions when they do not understand something in the course of introducing themselves. Furthermore, I will ask the student a few questions related to the subject to have a fair understanding of the student's strengths and weaknesses. Finally, encourage the student to ask me questions during sessions and encourage them to be confident.