This is my teaching statement, written as part of the 2020-2021 GATA Award portfolio.
Course: Pilates I, AU 2020, The Ohio State University
Growing up, I loved the act of learning but never considered myself a “natural learner”. This insecurity followed me from elementary school into college. I remember trying to hide in the back of classrooms, feeling intense anxiety when asked to come to the whiteboard, and feeling shame for weeks after answering a question incorrectly. Along with these memories of self-consciousness and doubt, however, I also have a vivid memory of the first time I felt seen in a classroom. During my first semester of college, I took a kinesiology course which met once a week for three hours in the evening. After weeks of attending seminars, I was barely passing with a C in the course. Finally, the teacher asked me to stay after class and recommended maybe the course material was not the issue, and maybe the long class period during the evening was affecting my abilities. He encouraged me to take the course again, twice a week in the mornings. That semester I received an A in the course. Since then, I have served as a TA for kinesiology twice, earned a Pilates certification, and now teach functional anatomy and kinesiology to my students.Until that point, I believed I was lacking in my ability to learn like my classmates. I now understand there is no one way to learn and thus, no one way to teach—which led me to my teaching philosophy of focusing on and building learning around the strengths of individual students.
As an instructor of dance studio and Pilates conditioning classes, I emphasize individualizing and pluralizing in the development of curriculum. I communicate class materials in ways which allow each student to find a personal connection to the content while building relations with class peers. I structure the classroom in ways which empower students to engage with material while honoring their own distinct bodies and their own learning affinities by offering multiple ways of communicating class content. Students engage with class content orally, visually and kinesthetically through lectures, videos, class discussions, readings, still images, visualization, small-group exercises, personal reflection, individual physical practice, and group physical practice. Students learn both synchronously and asynchronously, allowing them to process material individually before coming together as a group. During an informal anonymous survey, one student reported an appreciation for the variety of ways the class interacted, stating “the constant shifting from synchronous to asynchronous actually makes the semester more flexible and fluid.”
I believe students learn better when they feel a sense of community in the classroom—which is why I always focus on community-building before class content. To implement this in my teaching, I begin each class session with a group check-in activity. Check-in activities allow us to enter the workspace in an open and neutral state and get everyone in the framework of working together. During the first week of class I ask students to share their favorite songs, which I then use to create a collaborative class playlist for the duration of the course. I use this playlist as students enter our Zoom meetings, during group physical practice, and tell students they can also access it while practicing exercises individually. Lastly, because students mostly learn course materials either online or in small groups to allow for proper social distancing, I plan full-class days online where we practice exercises together as a group every few weeks. At the end of the semester, multiple students expressed their appreciation for these moments of community building, with one student stating, “the positive community we’ve build with check-in’s and get-to-know-you exercises have made me feel so much more comfortable in this class and definitely aided to success.” Another student wrote, “I really like the check-ins at the beginning of class. I feel much more comfortable with this class than I do with any other Zoom lecture I am in.”
I understand my students as individuals through the use of journals and weekly prompts. Each semester, I have students submit five journal entries throughout the duration of the course. Students are provided with weekly writing prompts which guide them toward connecting their physical practice with any philosophical queries from lectures. Although prompts are offered each week, students have agency over which five weeks of the semester they want to submit. Students also have choices for how they document their reflections, including options of both written journal entries and video blog entries. By offering flexibility and options around how and when students submit assignments, I empower them to engage with material while honoring their own learning affinities. One student reported enjoying “the freedom to do assignments when we want.”
These journaling assignments also allow me to connect with students one-on-one, which has become even more important during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, they allow me to understand at a deeper level any questions, concerns and discoveries regarding a student’s physical alignment and well-being, which can be difficult to see fully through a Zoom screen. One student reported feeling they were “getting enough one-on-one feedback even though there could not be physical touch.” Often times journal entries become long threads back and forth, sharing personal stories and making connections during a time of intense isolation and uncertainty. Journal entries allow me to help students feel seen and heard.
I know these teaching strategies work not only because of feedback, but also because students return to my classes. Currently, multiple students from my Pilates I course have returned to my Pilates II course this semester. Additionally, two students have requested to work with me for independent study to continue deepening their practice. During an anonymous survey, I asked the question “what can I do right now to further support and enhance your learning?” One students’ response, which reflected many other responses, wrote “I think everything is so well thought out and executed seamlessly, which is incredible in the middle of a global pandemic. I really enjoy the way class is currently going!” Alongside the positive feedback I’ve received from students, the act of students returning to my classroom tells me—although I will always be growing as an educator—I am meeting my personal goals as their teacher.
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