Photo by Tenz1225 on Flickr

The latest in a series of guest blog posts from students in the GCCUT program course GRAD 599. GRAD 599 is a self-directed learning experience, providing structure and context for professional development opportunities in teaching, such as workshops, seminars, webinars, symposia, and other relevant programming.

My name is Ching Chih Tseng, a third-year student of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I am an indigenous woman from the Amis tribe in Taiwan.

My first teaching experience was tough because I taught in English and worked hard to engage with the students. As a guest speaker in the class, I was not familiar with the students.

My lecture topic was talking about the Sunflower Protest that happened in 2014 in Taiwan. Through this event, I wanted to teach students about social justice and the power of people’s voices. They were interested in the topic, but I think they felt a little bit confused and found it hard to follow the content because they are not familiar with the Taiwanese culture and society. It was also a challenge for me to interact with students. I did not know how to react when students did not answer my questions.

On reflection, I think I need to lead students to interact with me and figure out how to break the silence. I should plan more class discussions and activities. A well-prepared lesson plan can meet students’ needs and encourage learning. Through this experience, I learned that I need to prepare my aims and make my objectives explicit and appropriate for the students and syllabus. Overall, teaching the class was a great experience, but I need to practice.

Here are the main things the classes in teaching I have taken at OSU taught me:

• Teaching is a performance.
• I need to present an interesting topic to the class.
• I should facilitate learning instead of lecturing in class.
• The atmosphere and teachers-students relationships are crucial for student success.
• I need an effective plan that is well-paced, varied, active, challenging and logically structured.

Recognizing cultural differences

Studies abroad let me realize how cultural differences impact my perception of how people learn and the different ways they gain knowledge. Compared to the western education system, most Asian countries are more like the banking system of education. In that system, teachers are the only resources of knowledge and authority in the classroom. There are few chances for students to learn and practice critical thinking. Students are only accepting the knowledge, but not learning. In contrast, the western education system requires students to create, to criticize and to analyze. Instructors help students understand what they read from the textbook and to challenge the content to have strong conclusions or support for the knowledge.

…as a teacher, our job is to teach the students not the subjects.

The TED talk I’m sharing with you is an example of “Flip Classroom Learning” in Taiwan. (speaking in Chinese Mandarin with transcript in English) I felt glad that the old education system in my country is finally improving by many teachers’ hard work and the passion to make a change for students. The video also encourages me not to be afraid to change. Now I realize, as a teacher, our job is to teach the students not the subjects.