Edouard Wemy Teaching Statement “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” William Arthur Ward What are the traits of a “great teacher?” I dare not pretend to hold the answer to such a question. However, throughout my educational journey from Burkina Faso to the United States, I have encountered some educators whose approaches have greatly shaped my own perception of teaching. Teaching, as with any other profession, is a passion, and with passion, enthusiasm follows naturally. Many of the best teachers that I have had displayed positive attitudes in every class meeting. They spoke and acted in a manner that left no doubt in my mind that they really enjoyed coming to class to teach their students. Why would a student care about a subject when the professor appears not to? Students feed off of a professor’s enthusiasm and a vivacious teacher has the capacity to transform a subject like economics, which is often perceived as being difficult, into an enjoyable one. Consequently, I strive to keep a lively attitude whenever I am in the classroom and I frequently use real‐life and amusing analogies to explain economic concepts. In addition, I promote class participation by initiating interaction and inviting the students to share their opinions and have students solve complex problem in groups. I have found this technique to be very effective as it engages even timid students and encourages them to interact with their peers in class. Furthermore, I have vivid recollections of the most difficult concepts that were covered in my undergraduate courses because the professors gave us the opportunity to practice them in class. For that reason, I have adopted the approach of “learning by doing” in teaching economics. In fact, economics is heavily based on concepts and graphs that tend to confuse some students who struggle to grasp the connection between theory and real‐world events. When I was first assigned to teach Principles of Macroeconomics in the summer of 2011, I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing a great number of the students perform poorly on the first exam. Since then, I have incorporated practice questions into my presentation slides after each new concept to reinforce the students’ understanding. I usually allocate a few minutes during class to allow students to work through these questions and then encourage them to compare their answers with one another before we start our discussion of the solution. I have received positive feedback from many students that have taken my class and this exercise has become an integral part of my teaching. Another great aspect of the best teachers that I have had is their ability to listen to potential concerns, evaluate their worthiness, and revise teaching methods to reflect such concerns. Teachers are supposed to create the conditions under which students can learn most effectively. In doing so, teachers must obtain all the necessary information from their students to create and promote an environment that will be conducive to learning. There exists a system, in the form of “End of Semester Evaluations,” to address such instances. This system helps teachers improve for future courses. However, it is insufficient in terms of addressing issues arising in the current class. Consequently, I supplement the “End of Semester Evaluations” with mid‐semester evaluations. In these anonymous evaluations, I encourage them to express their candid opinion about my teaching methods. I have benefited a great deal from allowing such an interactive environment. For instance, in the spring of 2013, several students noted that I was speaking rapidly and moving at a faster pace in my presentation slides than they preferred. Although they were quite pleased with my explanations, they suggested that reducing the pace of the presentations would allow them to take better notes. I listened and made the necessary change. Teaching economic concepts is not the only objective of my course; I wish to develop skills that will benefit the students beyond the sixteen weeks that we share together. I structure my exams such that students must use analytical skills to answer the questions. Since these exams move beyond just sheer memorization, I better prepare students by including such analytical questions in every assignment. This not only allows students to perform better on my exams, it also aids in the retention of my course material. I look forward to further opportunities to refine my teaching skills. Every class that I have taught has allowed me to further and refine my approach to teaching. Teaching Evaluations ECON 112: Principles of Macroeconomics, Spring 2014
Overall Weighted Mean: 7.41/9.00
QUESTION MEDIAN COMPARISONS SAME LEVEL SAME SUBJECT Was the instructor enthusiastic about the material? How concerned was the instructor with what the students learned from the course? How clearly did the instructor explain specific concepts relevant to the course? How accessible was the instructor for individual discussion about the course? How much did the course promote your progress on acquiring factual knowledge? Was feedback on exam, papers, performance useful? 9.0 9.0 9.0 8.5 9.0 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 8.0 7.5 8.0 8.0 6.0 8.0 7.0 ECON 212: Intermediate Macroeconomics, Summer 2014
Overall Weighted Mean: 7.88/9.00
QUESTION Was the instructor enthusiastic about the material? How concerned was the instructor with what the students learned from the course? How clearly did the instructor explain specific concepts relevant to the course? How accessible was the instructor for individual MEDIAN COMPARISONS SAME LEVEL SAME SUBJECT 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 7.0 9.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 8.0 discussion about the course? How much did the course 8.0 promote your progress on acquiring factual knowledge? Was feedback on exam, 7.0 papers, performance useful? 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.0