Teaching Philosophy
As a professor of Spanish language, literature, and culture, I have two fundamental goals: expanding the cultural horizons of my students and developing their critical thinking while stimulating their social sensibility. My teaching gives my students the means to interpret, apply, and communicate information about the Hispanic world that matters not only in the academic context, but beyond the classroom. To accomplish these goals, I use multiple forms of active learning and a student-centered approach. When students actively participate in their own education, the learning process is more effective and enjoyable. Thus, I create a respectful and comfortable environment where my students can relate their personal experiences with the presented material and where they can thoughtfully and respectfully communicate their ideas. For example, students in my class identify elements (words, traditions, images, ingredients, etc.) of Hispanic culture with which they interact in their daily lives. Also, I ask students to write about their experiences arriving and adapting to college and, later, compare their narratives to stories of migration. In this way, they can more easily understand the imaginary of narratives of displacement. Through these exercises, students are encouraged to appreciate the relevance and complexity of the Hispanic world and to develop explicit connections to their own lives and academic backgrounds.
To expand my students’ cultural horizons, I urge them to recognize patterns and relationships in addition to the study of facts. I help my students to accumulate foundational information and vocabulary that will allow them to identify and understand the Hispanic world. Thus, I combine overarching concepts with detailed examples to facilitate students’ ability to process information and put it in a relevant context. For example, after helping students to construct the concept of ‘mobility,’ they identify and deal with problems of mobility and social inequality in their professional fields. My courses stimulate students to use their new knowledge in the analysis of concrete events—for example, how does U.S. policy reflect the history of socio-cultural relationships with Latin American countries and what are the cultural assumptions entailed in such relationships? In motivating this line of questions, I contextualize the course content and promote social understanding.
To develop students’ critical thinking within and beyond the classroom, my classes encourage students to consistently use subject matter to explain and resolve real-life situations. For instance, through the exploration of news, tweets, photographs, films, music videos, art craft, and cartoons, students learn to offer a coherent examination of concrete events, stereotypes of Latino populations, and transnational flows. I ask students’ critical opinion about current newspaper articles, clips of television shows, and news broadcasts to hone their analytical skills, assess their progressive learning, and expand their social awareness.
Since I completed the Teaching with Technology Certificate at Penn State, technology has become integral to my pedagogy. Using technology that is part of my students’ daily lives keeps them motivated and enhances their class participation. I use multimedia tools and on-line resources to deliver class content inside and outside the classroom. My students and I communicate through collaborative tools such as chats, discussion boards, and blogs through which they can build on the course’s content and express their thoughts in an effective and responsible manner. For instance, I ask students to express their opinions through blogs about music or films that might interest them. If there is a blog that talks about the film La teta asustada [The Milk of Sorrow] and we have watched the film, I ask them to visit the blog site and leave a comment to which the whole class can respond.
When teaching Spanish, I structure classroom activities using a communicative approach, which allows my students to use the language rather than solely memorize its grammar. By situating the grammatical component into meaningful contexts, my students are prepared to resolve problems they will encounter when interacting with native speakers and traveling through Spanish speaking countries. In my courses, students speak and write about their own professional aspirations, interests, and experiences, as well as about current events in the Hispanic community. Hence, my language classes also promote students’ practical and critical thinking. For example, my students choose a couple of pictures from their Facebook accounts to talk about their past using preterit and imperfect. They also read excerpts about economic and political issues in Latin America and use the future tense to share their predictions. Since I too went through the process of learning a foreign language, I am prepared to ease their doubts and to advise them on how to face the challenges of acquiring a new language.
Over many semesters, I have steadily developed my teaching methods. Today, my teaching techniques allow my students to have a voice in their learning. They have the opportunity to choose topics for writing assignments and presentations, incorporate topics that interest them into the content of the course and even submit potential exam questions. I have found that giving students some say in course material helps me meet my teaching goals by generating enthusiasm and investment in the course. The current incarnation of my teaching approach is the product of my own experience as a student, readings and workshops about pedagogy, discussions with my colleagues, and feedback from my students. As I continue to grow as an educator, I adapt my methods to reach new audiences. Teaching language, culture, or literature is a constant intellectual challenge, and I welcome it as it enriches and inspires my professional development.