Teaching Philosophy Statement

The Hindu Vedas place teachers on a high pedestal: “a guru creates and sustains knowledge, and destroys the weeds of ignorance, just like the creator, the sustainer, and the destroyer of this universe”. It is no surprise then that students see teachers as authority figures that teach them the truth. Thus, the teacher has a profound responsibility to guide students by helping them to assimilate and to critically analyze facts. The teacher must also prepare students to cope with contradictions between what is being taught in the class and what they experience in the real world. Ultimately, the goal of the teacher is to transform the students from collective followers of knowledge to independent seekers of it. I believe the role of a teacher is to align teaching activities along the path that works best for his or her class and to create a constructive learning environment. This requires flexibility and willingness on the part of the teacher to constantly innovate and reinvent him or herself in order to facilitate better learning, i.e., a teacher must be open to new ideas and not pinned down to a particular methodology. In addition, I believe in taking the students on board and making them equal stakeholders in the learning process, such that the class as a whole aligns itself towards the final outcome. Therefore, teaching for me is a collective and a democratic activity, which is facilitated by the teacher and which results in a shared learning experience.