Chris Colatos

Teaching and Learning Philosophy

My teaching philosophy has developed through years of teaching experience and continuous reflection. I employ interactive strategies and teaching methodologies rooted in essential educational and knowledge-acquisition principles encompassing cognitive functioning, learning theory, instructional planning, and assessment. As a dedicated educator and academic leader, an influential educator must refine the craft of teaching with as much resolve and persistence as the craft taught. Teaching is an art that requires a vast and diverse skill set. Not only does it require a mastery of the subject, but also an ability to inspire, identify, and provide relevant context, deconstruct large frameworks, articulate complex ideas in unassuming ways, illustrate connections between insulated and modular concepts, possess a keen sensitivity to students’ progress, consistently model industry practices, devise and nimbly adapt dissemination strategies to guide learners, create opportunities for students to discover for themselves, and facilitate experiences that foster curiosity.

I nurture intellectual diversity, the ability to think analytically, engage in critique, listen critically, identify and articulate criteria and personal value, and synthesize concepts and processes into new ideas and combinations of ideas. How a learner achieves these is likely unique to each individual. Often, learners select, interpret, and transform new information and experiences within a personal context. Simultaneous awareness of the individual and the collective group is an elemental responsibility. I have found that a genuine connection with each student is one of the most informative and supportive resources. This connection allows a teacher to identify a learner’s door into the discourse and incorporate a learner’s perspective and processes to facilitate contact with the material, spark inspiration, and reveal alternative approaches for fellow students. Each person brings an intrinsic value to the learning space; identifying what that is and utilizing that knowledge can benefit the group.

Student engagement has proven vital in facilitating active discovery in the classroom. I endeavor to be an empathetic and encouraging advisor and mentor to my students. I work to create a space where every learner is empowered to contribute to constructing knowledge, co-own, share, and shape the responsibility and purpose of the learning environment. I encourage students to constructively challenge what they know and are taught and identify, experiment with, modify, or abandon existing philosophies to pursue meaning and value for themselves. Their contribution often leads to new trajectories along relevant paths that may have yet to be traversed as effectively or dynamically without their involvement. The class must meet the learning objectives of the course, and a skillful instructor can facilitate the benchmarks within a collaborative and shared space while strengthening abilities for autonomous and divergent cogitation.

Fostering play, humor, and fun in the discovery process is as essential to flow as structure and trust. We can cultivate trust by demonstrating that there is a clear plan for students, that there is at least one path for them to be successful amid course criteria, that those paths are made evident, and that their teacher is someone who provides support, insight, and guidance on that path. Clarity of course structure is vital. A student’s time is better spent without deciphering expectations, jumping through hoops, or seeking obscure resources. Of course, there is value in an ability to problem-solve and unearth resources when engaged in study and research; however, providing resources in accessible and manageable packages can provide measured guidance and elucidate criteria for success. This structural simplicity allows students to apply their time to contemplate, practice, develop, and engage with the intended material.

Important resources include plainly defined and apposite assessments and timely feedback. I continually refine formative and summative assessments to more accurately measure students’ cognitive proficiency and affective engagement with course objectives, utilizing an integrative process, one of evaluation facilitated by reflection and practical integration, and the efficacy of its application in the next iteration of a task, course, or program. Assessments are intended to be useful, provide meaningful information for the learner and the teacher, be fair, ethical, systematic, challenging, realistic, promote learning, and empower data-driven approaches to guide the teaching and learning practice. I consider consistency in feedback practices integral to assessment and reciprocal teaching and learning. Feedback includes dialog between teachers and students, self-assessment, and peer assessment to develop assessment literacy and support students' growth as autonomous learners with reflective and evaluative skills and frameworks for working and improving collaboratively. Consistently structured principles of feedback can increase coherency and help learners utilize feedback to understand better task compliance, quality, criteria, core practice knowledge, relevant tacit knowledge, and alignment with personal and professional values.

My enthusiasm and dedication to teaching and learning continue to grow, and I hope my work benefits learners and connects them with their passion and lifelong learning. It is an honor and a commitment that I undertake with seriousness and gratitude that I am able to support learners in their academic and professional endeavors.

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