When I think about teaching, the first thing that comes to mind is honestly not in the classroom, but rather teaching opportunities that arise in everyday life. My friends often refer to me as a bank of trivia knowledge, and that is something I take great pride in, where I learn as much as I can about as many things I can. I always find myself attempting to learn something new, especially something in a field where I am quite unfamiliar. However, this passion for learning extends into my passion for sharing my knowledge with others. As I have advanced my education, teaching others in a formal classroom setting has become the focus of my research and education. This interest in teaching began when I served as a teaching assistant in my master’s program and got to experience instructing others in a field in which I was very passionate. Over my two years of teaching, I gained a lot of experience and learned a great deal about not only teaching, but specifically instructing university students.

While instructing biomechanics laboratories in my master’s program, I had the opportunity to create an online learning platform utilizing Blackboard as well as YouTube. With the transition to utilizing more online learning platforms, this experience allowed me to experience and receive feedback on the creation and maintenance of online learning materials. While, I am not a fan of teaching strictly online, I believe that through the creation of material online, the learning experience can be enhanced. My preference for teaching, still remains to have face to face interaction where it facilitates engagement from students present; however, having online learning resources is beneficial to the learners because it gives them the opportunity to revisit material or aid in understanding complex material.

One of my primary goals as an instructor is to not only teach material, but to encourage skills of learning, such as critical and abstract thinking. These concepts are somewhat difficult to teach to everyone, especially in the same way; however, one technique I use to alleviate this issue is to generate group discussion where on-the-spot thinking is encouraged. I prefer to engage students in discussion as much as possible, as it reveals a large amount about the students in terms of their learning preferences and individual needs. Through the understanding of individual needs, it is possible to make modifications to general instruction to incorporate as many learning styles as possible. I like to write on the board and speak directly to the class more than to simply present slides, and while writing on the board, I can incorporate more teaching styles that fits the needs of my students. Providing direct examples, as well as explaining why it is important to learn the concepts, as well ways the students might employ this information in the real world. Teaching in terms of metaphor, or abstract examples allow an entertaining aside, that provide something interesting whereby students can remember the information and how to apply it.