This week’s blog topic calls for me to reflect on the support staff and professors I’ve worked with thus far here at the University of Helsinki. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, the semester got off to a rocky start with course selection and poor communication with faculty advisors, so to avoid harping on the same point and beating a dead horse, I’ll just skip over my experiences with support staff and focus this blog on my professors thus far.
As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, the teacher education program at Helsinki has a strong emphasis on being researched-based. So much like at Northeastern, all of my professors are currently working to advance the knowledge in their field of education on the various topics they were lecturing about. It has been refreshing to not only explore the “old” theory, but hear about how these classic pedagogical theories are currently being rethought, tweaked, adapted, and expanded upon to meet the needs of the 21st century classroom. I’ve really been able to see the passion for their subject and pride in their research in all of my professors, which is always refreshing as a student!
Another aspect of my learning and classroom experience is quite “meta” (as much as I hate using this term, it’s the only way I can describe this). Learning about teaching to promote learning, is quite the mental loop in and of itself. But I’ve also tried to analyze and reflect on the teaching practices my professors are using, the learning experiences they are trying to create, and how they are trying to shape my role as learner in the classroom. While this has been incredibly mentally exhausting, I think it has been vital to my learning experience here.
With that said, my professors haven’t been perfect, there are certainly things in their teaching styles that I might change or activities I have found to be ineffective. But in using their practice as models of effective teaching, I’ve learned so much more about how I might approach my future classroom.
Ooophs, I think I need a nap now, my brain is spinning from trying to put all this into words. But I think such reflection and blog posts like these has really helped contribute to my experience here! Next week I’ll talk about something a little easier, maybe about some good local eats. Yeah, I think that sounds nice.
