Fleshed out teaching philosophy

Social-Metacognitivism

My teaching philosophy is a blend of all three major pedagogical approaches: cognitivism, expressivism, and socio-culturalism. I lean more towards a blending of sociocultural discursive activities within socially constructed schematic practices. I would incorporate expressivist activities within pre-writing and pre-reading activities, encouraging personal thinking and activation of schemata. Students’ initial, individual responses would fuel classroom discussions that draw on student’s prior knowledge and cultural capital. Reading of various formats and genres will be central to classroom culture, integral to classroom activities, and vital for personal development.

In my class, I would like to foster a community that socially and culturally examines ideologies as the means for critical thinking: critical thinking that leads to metacognitivist composition processes. After expressivist pre-reading and writing activities and socio-cultural class discussions, students would begin composing through a varied, meta-cognitivist writing process.  Using multiple methods for brainstorming, organizing, writing, and revising, students are encouraged to examine their reading and writing techniques. Ideally, by building awareness of their thinking and writing processes, students would gain greater confidence in their compositions, build up their sense of academic authority, and feel comfortable as they join their chosen academic discourse communities.

As a teacher, my goal is to create a community of students who actively engage in reading traditional texts and their worlds, socially construct knowledge through participating in class discussions, and clearly communicate critical analysis of content using varied, individualized writing processes.