8/14/2019 Areas Da Luz Fontes_teaching Statement

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Teaching Statement

Teaching philosophy

A central tenet of my teaching philosophy is my commitment to promoting long-term,

meaningful learning. Therefore, it is important to me that my students learn the fundamentalcontent of the courses I teach in depth and that they can apply the knowledge outside of the

classroom. Beyond teaching the fundamental content of the course, it is essential to

simultaneously foster students critical thinking, and facilitate the acquisition of life-longlearning skills. For this reason, I emphasize the importance of engaging students in classroom

lecture and activities by presenting information enthusiastically and relating information to

students everyday experiences. By relating course content information to students everyday

experiences, prior knowledge is activated, which is a critical component of successful encoding,which in turn results in more successful retrieval of information later on.

Another tenet of my approach to teaching is edifying students motivation to meet and exceed

their initial expectations. I find that students are motivated to learn when they are appropriatelychallenged. Therefore, I strive to demonstrate I have high expectations from my students in the

way I present course content, engage students and in how I formulate assessments.

I am prepared to teach a diversity of courses. I would be particularly interested in teaching

courses on cognition, memory, psycholinguistics, bilingualism and learning.

Mentoring Experience

One of the most gratifying aspects of teaching is the opportunity to mentor students beyond theclassroom. I enjoy introducing students to the scientific process: discussing their research

interests and guiding them through the design, implementation and interpretation of their study. Ifind it particularly rewarding when I see students generate their own ideas based on findingsfrom my own research program. I clearly recall at least one instance in which one of the

undergraduate students I was mentoring came up with a great idea based on findings I was just

presenting to the laboratory. I was explaining the larger cost I found when bilinguals had toreject dominant meanings of English ambiguous words that were also cognates with Spanish

than simple English ambiguous words. She immediately suggested we investigate the effect in

the bilinguals first language (Spanish) to see whether we would replicate the results in their

native language. In other words, whether we would find the effect of cross-language activation inthe other direction.

One of the reasons I enjoy working closely and mentoring students on individual researchprojects is it allows me to have a more direct and long-lasting impact on the students academic

careers. I feel that a close work relationship enables me to teach much more than I could

otherwise. I believe that students who have the opportunity to engage in an in depth inquiry andhand s-on experience get a true sense of their interests and are better positioned to make

appropriate and fulfilling careers choices. I believe mentoring students during these experiences

allows me to make a difference in their academic achievement as well as life-long learning.

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