Teaching Philosophy

Video Transcript: Hi, I am Lisa Hermatz. A wise man once said, "You as the teacher are the driver. Your curriculum is a vehicle. Teaching methods are the adaptive roads. Students' master of ASL is your destination." (Cagle, 2006) Successful teaching requires careful planning and selecting of teaching approaches and methods that would best fit your classroom. My Teaching Philosophy includes one approach and two methods. The approach is called Principled Eclecticism. That approach fits today's generation of learners, known as the twenty-first century learners. They are from diverse backgrounds and all have different needs. This approach is created to fit these learners, not the learners fitting the approach. This approach also does not believe one teaching method is better than the other, or that one method fits all which leads me to choose two different methods. The first one is Direct Method. Teaching and communicating with students regularly in the target language. Emphasis on grammar is not encouraged. Everyday vocabulary and sentences are thrown in the mix. The second one is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This is similar to the functional-notional approach. It is content-based has more interactivity and games. There is more focus on meaning than accuracy. It is student-centered, and when they interact, the teacher will walk around and coach them. It is more authentic and prepares them for the real Deaf world. All of this is included in my Teaching Philosophy.