Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy largely resonates with the points advocated in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report, Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Supporting the Whole Student (2021). Furthermore, the NASEM feature story, Changing Campus Cultures to Support Mental Health: Rising Rates of Mental Health Problems in U.S. College Students Require a New Response, Report Says (2021, February), highlighted the following important points that guide my teaching philosophy:
|
To respond to the growing problem [of rising rates of mental health problems in U.S. college students], the report says, colleges and universities need to take a new, more holistic approach — one that doesn’t just relegate students’ mental health issues to campus counseling centers.
Instead, all sectors of campus — institutional leaders, faculty, staff, and students themselves — need to play a bigger role. “What we are asking is that institutions look at themselves and ask whether there are things in their environment that contribute to the stresses and mental health problems that students are experiencing,” said Leshner*.
Schools should consider how, instead of adding to students’ distress, they can positively contribute to their mental health and well-being, the report says. This will require leadership from the top, with presidents and boards of trustees setting the tone, reducing the stigma attached to mental health issues, and articulating the need for campuswide culture change.
*Alan Leshner is the CEO emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chaired the National Academies committee for the Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Supporting the Whole Student project.
Accordingly, I view my role as being a source of support and an advocate for all of my students -- current and former -- and as doing my best to help them not just "get through" the semester, but do so with as much ease as possible. Mental and physical health must be the priority, and learning thus comes second. If students are not mentally and physically well as individual human beings--as "whole students" as the aforementioned report states--I do not believe we can honestly say that we, as instructors, have created or at least have helped facilitate an environment that 1) is most conducive to learning, and therefore 2) allows students to perform to and reach their full potential as a whole student.
Not coincidentally, my teaching philosophy also largely resonates with my scholarship: patient-centeredness. Epstein et al. (2005, p. 1517) refer to the notion of patient-centeredness as a moral philosophy comprising three core values (McWhinney, 1995), which include the following:
Not coincidentally, my teaching philosophy also largely resonates with my scholarship: patient-centeredness. Epstein et al. (2005, p. 1517) refer to the notion of patient-centeredness as a moral philosophy comprising three core values (McWhinney, 1995), which include the following:
- Observing and incorporating the individual experiences, perspectives, desires, and needs of patients;
- Allowing patients to actively contribute and participate in the care they receive; and
- Fostering understanding and patient-provider collaboration within the relationship.
Just as NASEM lays out quite explicitly in the aforementioned report, Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Supporting the Whole Student (2021), patient-centeredness is concerned with supporting the whole patient -- thus, understanding each patient as an individual human being embedded within a unique psychosocial context that can affect all aspects of the patient experience.
In the context of my teaching, the notion of patient-centeredness thus becomes, what I call, student-centeredness. Of prime importance is first understanding the individual experiences, perspectives, desires, and needs of my students to the best of my ability from the outset of the semester. Accordingly, beginning the second semester of teaching after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I individually welcome and check in with each of my students at the beginning of each semester. Owing to the lack of physical presence of an instructor once the COVID-19 pandemic hit (even with my courses being conducted synchronously (rather than asynchronously)), coupled with the increased isolation many college students have experienced as a result of the pandemic), I have found these beginning of semester check-in emails an effective way to connect with and support my students. I have discovered that some students have had a lot going on in their lives, and it was not until I reached out to them in this personalized way that some disclosed to me that they had impeding external circumstances but did not want to reach out on their own. As such, it became clear to me that each student can benefit from individualized attention and engagement from the instructor. This allows the establishment of rapport with my students from the outset, which I then hope will allow them to feel more comfortable making disclosures of personal external circumstances that may interfere with their performance should they already be existing at that time or should they happen to arise in the future.
In the context of my teaching, the notion of patient-centeredness thus becomes, what I call, student-centeredness. Of prime importance is first understanding the individual experiences, perspectives, desires, and needs of my students to the best of my ability from the outset of the semester. Accordingly, beginning the second semester of teaching after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I individually welcome and check in with each of my students at the beginning of each semester. Owing to the lack of physical presence of an instructor once the COVID-19 pandemic hit (even with my courses being conducted synchronously (rather than asynchronously)), coupled with the increased isolation many college students have experienced as a result of the pandemic), I have found these beginning of semester check-in emails an effective way to connect with and support my students. I have discovered that some students have had a lot going on in their lives, and it was not until I reached out to them in this personalized way that some disclosed to me that they had impeding external circumstances but did not want to reach out on their own. As such, it became clear to me that each student can benefit from individualized attention and engagement from the instructor. This allows the establishment of rapport with my students from the outset, which I then hope will allow them to feel more comfortable making disclosures of personal external circumstances that may interfere with their performance should they already be existing at that time or should they happen to arise in the future.