TEACHING STATEMENT
Yoel Rodríguez
I knew someday I would become a professor. This profession has been my dream since I was a child. I remember my mother calling me and complaining because I did not want to have lunch or dinner. Of course, I was playing a teacher character in front of a blackboard explaining to my friends some new concepts learned in class that day. Even in primary or secondary school, I was always ready to participate in class, to work in groups or to prepare presentations and give them in front of an audience. That was my vision, to be in front of people explaining and helping them to understand what I was trying to communicate and they wanted to learn.
At Havana University, once I met the requirements, I immediately joined the Undergraduate Assistant List. I worked in the General Chemistry and Physical Chemistry Departments with experienced advisors. With these professors you never felt the time pass and you wanted to keep listening to their discussions and explanations. The way that they used the blackboards was simply awesome; that is what really impressed me. With few resources, their classes were more than outstanding. They instilled in me the desire to pursue a career as a professor and an educator. Following their school methods, strictness, precision, and a sense of fairness have become the key to my pedagogy.
As a graduate assistant at Havana University, I was involved in the supervision of an undergraduate student in his Bachelor of Science thesis. I also taught more advanced Physical Chemistry courses to students majoring in Chemistry and Microbiology. What a satisfaction it was to see how the students grew academically as the course advanced! I felt so helpful because I was able to help them understand complex concepts and decide about their future careers. That was something that confirmed to me that I really wanted to pursue this profession, to become a professor.
Enthusiasm and passion are what really best characterizes me as a Chemistry and Physics professor. When the students see those features in an instructor, they can become energized and motivated, and they can be challenged to solve difficult tasks. Moreover, even when they are not really interested in the discipline, they will likely make more of an effort to gain knowledge and, of course, to be engaged in the learning process.
Indeed, in the learning process, it is essential to establish a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. In such an environment, the students will feel more willing to participate, to share their knowledge and to be active learners. That is why in the first class of the semester, I always comment to my students that I want them to succeed and that I always have time to help them. From the beginning of the course, I have a strong commitment to the students. I like to have a balance be- tween being friendly and authoritarian. I am determined to be strict, approachable and fair, the way I was taught by my admirable university professors. I do not like passive classes where the professor starts talking like a parrot and the contribution of the students is almost nil. I do not like classes characterized by one-way communication. Students should become the protagonists during the class and the instructor a facilitator of the discussion and the knowledge. I love to see the students keep asking questions in the class and to allow interactions among the students themselves and between me and them to take full sway. A class should be interactive; otherwise, the learning process does not progress. The students learn from their own discoveries and mistakes. The more relaxed the students feel, the less afraid they will be to make mistakes, and this willingness to make errors is an important ingredient in the learning process.
Another important point that I take into consideration during the difficult learning process is to help students to relate and connect previous experiences and use prior knowledge. Reinforcing the use of mathematics as well as the use of Lab Flow Chart methodology, which is an algorithmic way to represent a chemical or physical procedure in the laboratory, and making use of technology in Chemistry and Physics courses are good components in such a learning process. This way, students learn new concepts without noticing that they are interconnecting different fields such as science, mathematics, and technology, the so-called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. Our strategy is to teach chemistry and physics by making them more enjoyable. We need to cultivate our students’ scientific curiosity and give them opportunities to develop needed hands- on lab as well as experimental design, so that they will enhance their statistical and computational skills. The students need to be immersed in multifaceted modes of analysis, discovery, problem-solving, inquiry, questioning and critical thinking. They also need to develop their writing and communication skills so that they can be asked to present their findings to their classmates and their professors.
Since each student learns differently and our Hostos students come from di- verse backgrounds, I am always aware of this point when I am teaching my subjects. Patience and dedication should be the key components for these classes. It should not be forgotten that the learning process is an ongoing process. Therefore, we should help our students to not feel frustrated because they may be slower to understand concepts compared to more advantaged students. We should try to use different levels of complexity to explain a new concept. We should encourage the students not to give up and help them to see that they can do it. But they first need to learn and comprehend “previous” fundamental concepts that will help them to understand the much more difficult ones. Encouragement, engagement and confidence in our students are decisive in their path to achieving their goals. As Barak Obama’s father in Dreams from My Father said, “Confidence. The secret to a man’s success.”