The vital components of my lessons are trust, guidance, positivity, and encouragement. I strive to develop a positive learning relationship with my students through these.

In trust and guidance, the teacher can educate and edify. My classes invite students into a secure, open space of learning. I locate my lessons in that space where, as the Irish poet Derek Mahon has put it, ‘a thought might grow’ (in the poem ‘A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’).

The vital aspect of my teaching philosophy begins there; where I guide the student on a path of learning where my aim is that they develop, not just their knowledge of the subject, but also their confidence in their ownership of it.

Positive feedback and encouragement, then, are always foremost in my mind. I remind my students to make and effort without fear of misunderstanding. I emphasise that not getting it right is part of the process of learning; that in academic writing, for example, editing multiple drafts is the norm.

My aim ultimately is not just that the my students gain the knowledge and skills I teach. I want them also to have had a learning experience that advances them in some measure in their self-confidence as they take those things with them into their working lives. In order to achieve this, my classes are always affirmative of their abilities and dynamic in dialogue.

I am rewarded in this effort when students come back to me to talk about topics with their own share of authority, and thank me for their time with me in class.