TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

I conceive of the teaching process as a mutual exchange of ideas and information between the professor and the students, as a fundamental way of stimulating both sides' creativity. As literature is an interdisciplinary field which voices  multiple points of view, I consider it an excellent discipline for developing a critical yet open-minded perspective on the wide range of discourses that interact in our daily professional and personal experiences. Teaching literature has for me a practical value; knowing how to read literary texts means ability to interpret many other kinds of multiple-coded, sophisticated discourses.

 I consider that one of the main goals of teaching is to challenge students' former knowledge and mindset and help them develop a critical perspective on things. In this sense, I think that textual analysis, group discussions conducted by the teacher could function as incentives for building a strategy of argumentation. The role of the teacher in this process is to guide discussion, to offer critical, philosophical, and historical information and suggest possible approaches on the text. The active participation of the students is seminal to this process as well. I strongly encourage class and group discussions as well as individual presentations, creative rewritings and even polemics .

    I believe that one of the main aids in facilitating a good dialogue between the professor and the students is the enthusiasm of the instructor toward the material he/she teaches. The use of technological aids (visual, computer-based, and musical) can enhance the chances of a good interaction since they are able to address different learning styles and various issues of the text. For a literature class, essay writing is an essential mode of teaching composition and argumentative skills as well a way as of checking on the improvement of students` ability to construct and defend their argument in a clear and systematic way.

    As much as I believe that the professor should be the facilitator of the learning process, he/she should always be ready to accommodate the diversity of the students, their interests and backgrounds with the material he/she teaches. I think that learning from one's own students and allowing oneself to be challenged by them is one of the main gains of teaching as communication.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
135 Joe Brown Hall
phone: 542-5682
email: letitiag@arches.uga.edu