Kotor Asare

My teaching philosophy is that children learn best when their prior knowledge is activated at the onset of a lesson by scaffolding the learners to reach the upper limit of their zone of proximal development to construct their own meaning and understanding.

As an experienced teacher educator, I believe in connecting and activating concepts with learners’ past experiences be it at home, school, or in the environment. In view of this, the teacher becomes passive, while the students become more active in the sense that learners become the real players on the field of the lesson with the teacher becoming the coach outside the pitch. The truth is that, if all teachers can view teaching in this way, it would be very simple for students to recall facts discussed in class rather than depending solely on the teacher’s numerous lesson notes which always lead to rote memorization and frustration sometimes.

My teaching philosophy is valid to create an interactive classroom atmosphere through the questions and answers method, and discussion approach by way of providing TLMs for students to interact with and do discussions, having experienced them. I do so by systematically scaffolding the students by activating their relevant previous knowledge. This will make them generate their own ideas relevant to the objectives of the lesson.
I see my role as a teacher being that of helping students to develop holistically and being able to apply learning gains to solve real life problems to contribute and to mankind and society. significantly. In view of this I believe that both the student and I have responsibilities during this teaching-learning process. I believe that ultimately students have responsibility for their learning and I expect that they will assume such a responsibility. At the same time, I play my role as a teacher is to motivate students to learn, and challenge them to do their best, while modeling and guiding the learners in the learning process. I believe in creating a stimulating, enabling, facilitating, and inviting learning environment that embraces inclusivity and diversity which will make students feel safe to learn not only from success but from failure as well. I willingly provide additional assistance to any student struggling with specific concepts and skills. I will not embarrass a student but rather actively encourage them to answer all questions. I believe that I am not the only teacher present in the educational setting and that students can also learn from each other just as I can learn from them.