Statement of Teaching Philosophy
My teaching goal is to encourage the pursuit of knowledge. I believe that students are the main players in the learning process; the teacher’s role is to inspire their interest and advance their abilities in life-long learning. My teaching emphasis is on motivating and helping students learn, which is especially important in teaching an emerging subject, such as new media. In particular, it is a teacher’s responsibility to help students develop a vision of the future, to enable them with fundamental concepts, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and to exhibit the excitement of the overall learning process.
An interactive and inspiring environment is vital to achieve my teaching goal. I want students to actively participate, collaborate and communicate in class. Even though computers are the major tools that students deal with in my classroom, I constantly encourage them to talk in class either to the teacher or to each other about the topics covered. When designing a course plan, I attempt to create opportunities for students to cooperate with each other. I teach students to switch roles from a communicator to the audience so that they can not only improve their professional projects, but also understand the value of a communicator relies on the interaction with the audiences.
To create an inspiring environment, I use multimedia to provide a vision of the subject matters; my teaching materials are designed relevant to students’ lives. Moreover, having a faith in the benefit of ‘good moods’ on learning and creativity, I strive to establish a stress-free style in my presentation. When students work on their projects, background music works effectively in terms of keeping them patient and stimulating their inspiration. In addition, I offer students a chance to revise their projects, by which I express my high expectations for them and move them forward.
Enlightened by Confucius, I pay special respects to diverse talents and ways of learning to make every student enjoy the journey of pursuing knowledge. The first thing I will do in every quarter is to survey students about their prior knowledge of the subject that I am teaching and their expectations for my course. In addition to taking care of the majority of the class, it is beneficial to provide other students with extra learning materials and special office hours.
Assignments and projects are the major approaches to measure students’ learning. However, the emphasis is on detecting their improvements during the overall course. The initial survey functions as a baseline for evaluating individual student, whereas their progress can be more easily observed from the revision for each assignment as well. To let students review their fellow classmates’ projects can promote critical thinking and role-playing.
In order to achieve the ultimate goal of encouraging students’ active pursuit of knowledge, I attempt to employ various strategies to establish an interactive and inspiring environment. Under a helpful and pleasant learning circumstance, students’ enthusiasm can be stimulated and their skills of further learning can be enhanced.
知道larry david是看他的Curb Your Enthusiasm,感觉是个成天叽叽歪歪的老头子。在他眼力就没啥顺眼的，而且自己最终总落个自讨苦吃的结果。看到他总能让俺想到seinfeld，特别是里面的george。 后来一打听，larry就是seinfeld的作者，制片之一。于是觉得自己很买他的幽默，因为太喜欢看seinfeld了。这个图是google出来的，看来作者也是个larry fan。
正好心血来潮，前一天把录像机接到电视上了录cnn关于北朝鲜的报道，于是把整个晚会也录了下来。今天跑到图书馆，把larry的这段扣了下来，在这里推广一下。
俺立马打电话给信用卡公司，问到底出了啥事，他们叫俺跟searchease.com联系，叫他们取消交易。同时AAA也将取消俺现在的账户，发给俺一张新卡。待俺打电话到searchease.com，只有一个语音信箱，nnd，估计是个大骗子公司。俺留了言，警告他们少装蒜，等吃官司吧！
北京奥委会献给光棍节的礼物，俺个人一点不喜欢。五个破娃娃没啥特色，除了那个熊猫一看就认得外，其他都不知道是个啥。落入俗套的设计，没有什么美感，本来还想买点送人，现在看来可以省了。
俺觉得这个观点很有意思，但是运用建筑的厚重现象是否真的能增强信任感，俺还有点怀疑。不过想到“跑得了和尚跑不了庙”这句话，这样的做法也许真是很有道理的。不过俺好奇地上了好些个文中提到的银行网站，HSBC, Citi bank, Chase等等，还都没发现什么建筑的照片在他们网站上。只有Bank of New York的主页上勉强有个大厅的影子。也许几年以来的网络发展，人们对银行网络安全的顾虑已经荡然无存了。
Jonathan也谈到了大学也经常把建筑用在logo的设计中，这个俺到是很有亲身体验。他还举了University of Rhode Island的例子，说以前该学校是用“锚”做logo的，因为靠着海，可是这样的logo常常让人联想到航行，自由，party之类和学术教育背道而驰的形象。后来他们该用校内的Green Hall做logo，自我感觉不错。
以前在国内也不怎么Shopping。只到没衣服穿的时候才冲到天成去搜刮两件。到了这里，一切更要靠自己，而且美国人还是很讲究穿衣代帽的。不穿的干干净净给国人丢脸，穿得整整齐齐，在学生面前也增加点威风。所以也经常买东西了，更学会怎么找deal了。上dealsea.com找便宜货就不用提了，跟着大伙学，还办了各种各样的信用卡。去了商场先看clearance...找到便宜货仿佛很有成就感。美国的市场营销就是厉害，经济也好，到那里都是抢货的shoppers！
说的这么明白，他们还在争，还说俺的没道理。俺看是那帮人没文化，看都看不懂！说累了，下楼到会议室用微波炉烤了一个红薯，很好吃！按照网上的方子，用湿纸裹着红薯，在微波炉里转７，８分钟。第一次用微波炉烤，还有点担心，怕纸着了，把办公室烧了。哈哈，一杯咖啡，一个红薯，一个周五的下午，晚上去Renu家吃饭，爽啊！
胡主席访问朝鲜的报道很热闹。据说受到金正日的最高礼遇。今天看了网上一段录象，应该是朝鲜电视台对欢迎仪式的报道。那场面真可谓举国欢腾！估计朝鲜人民把最好看的衣服都穿出来了，把最好的车都开出来了，那欢迎的呼唤声排山倒海，震耳欲聋。居然还有杂耍，跳舞的，没想到胡主席的访问成了全朝鲜的节日。有趣的是那些标语，“热烈欢迎胡锦涛同志满怀深情厚谊访问朝鲜”。看着肌皮发毛。难怪胡甩下２０亿，也不辜负成千上万人的呼喊。“厚谊”应该是“厚礼”才对。
今年正经八百的Halloween赶上了星期一，这便让这个发狂的节日稍稍逊色了一些。星期六是Athens一年一度的block party，也是这个小城一年中最最热闹和疯狂的日子了。去了两年的block party，今年就一点兴致都没有了。加上天气寒冷，以及俺那个苟延残喘的tercel让俺很闹心，这个Halloween过的很depressed。
看了网上的关于今年block party的照片，觉得这个虐待战俘的custom最有创意。这些学生们啊叫俺这样的当老师的又恨又爱。
修改：找来原版的虐待战俘照片，真实形似神更似。
看生肖打卦，属蛇的明年是个好年头啊。
最近OＵ来了个国家地理的摄影师Wade Davis,在礼堂开讲images gathered from around the globe。本来也想去听的，被其他事情耽搁了。后来听ZB说，听得郁闷，因为听了“外人说家丑”心里很不爽。俺很能理解那种感受。后来HL给Athensnews写了篇评论：Speaker got it all wrong about Tibet, which has improved under China,博得了众多中国学生的叫好。俺也要为HL叫好，好在有人站出来发表声音。文中引用Wade Davis的话，“it is wrong to think trees are meant to be torn down because we were raised to believe trees are meant to be torn down”，号召不可只听一面之辞。
断断续续下了一个多礼拜的雨了，athens最美的五色树叶都要被毁尽了。那到也无所，雨停的间隙还能露点小太阳，反而更迷人。
[还是alamo外的警察，黑制服的骑自行车转来转去的]
[一家人坐在alamo旁的一广场，听一老头传扬得州军备的东西]
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