Teaching Philosophy
This statement discusses my goals as a professor, the courses I teach, the use of gamification and virtual reality (VR) in my classes, diversity and inclusion in my classroom, service-learning and study abroad courses, and mentorship.
Overview
I have experience teaching undergraduate courses from introductory Spanish language to upper-level classes on Spanish for the Professions and teaching methodology. I am also an Honors professor and teach freshmen seminars on the intersection of language, culture, and health; and I lead Honors independent studies. At the graduate level, I have submitted a course titled Spanish for Professional Communication for an interdisciplinary Master’s degree, which has been approved for teaching in a future semester.
My goal as a professor is two-fold. The first is related to developing linguistic and intercultural skills whether students are in a Spanish-language specific class or a class taught in English. I achieve this goal by facilitating communication in the target language or discussion in English and by emphasizing cultural sensitivity and awareness. The second goal relates to fostering higher-level critical thinking and problem-solving skills. To do so, I promote self-exploration through reflection and push for deep thinking by asking pointed questions which students consider in collaborative discussions.
My teaching philosophy is based on both experience and research in the fact that learning occurs through engagement, which also promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and linguistic and intercultural development. In the language classroom, I incorporate communicative activities in all of my courses including those at the beginning levels. For example, instead of just listening to a presentation on weather and the proper way to talk about the weather in Spanish, my students make their own weather broadcasts based on different Spanish-speaking cities around the world and present them to the class. In other courses, students design games to teach the class a topic or create anuncios – video commercials – to concisely demonstrate their points of view on a topic while building additional skills through technology.
Courses on Spanish for the Professions
I teach courses on Spanish for the Professions. I have taught intermediate and advanced Spanish for the Health Professions and have planned an advanced level course on Spanish for Business. My intermediate Spanish for the Health Professions course is a research designated class in which students complete full-scale research projects. I give students the option of conducting a systematic review or a survey-based research project which they submit for approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Students choose a topic related to Latinx culture or the Spanish language and health. Previous projects have investigated the effects of vaping in Latinx populations, machismo and mental health in Latin America, and the impact of machismo on willingness to accept treatment in college-aged Latinos.
In addition to completing a research project, students learn about Latinx health disparities, social determinants of health, pronunciation, morphemes, cultural practices, translation and interpretation, medical terminology, and translanguaging skills. I also teach students how to take blood pressure (as I am certified) as well as the differences in blood pressure levels and blood glucose levels as hypertension and diabetes are very prevalent in Latinx communities.
I also re-designed the “Game of Life” to demonstrate cultural differences that exist not only between the U.S. and Spanish-speaking countries but also to illustrate health disparities and social determinants of health that are prevalent in those countries. In the game, students spin the wheel to determine the path of the game to follow. Country paths included Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the U.S., where players followed an authentic path of life mirroring citizens from those countries. This means that players spun the wheel to determine demographics such as country of origin, education choices, career paths, housing arrangements, and quality of life. Throughout the game, they would go through life events such as marriage, parenthood, and divorce, as well as buying houses, losing houses, and other difficult decisions based on statistics from the country of origin. After playing this game in class, students said that they could feel the weight of decisions they made not only in the game but also in the real world and gained a greater awareness of the inequalities and inequities that exist.
Additionally, I created an “escape room” as a review activity at the end of the semester. In this particular class, students collected clues and patient information by using both critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills. After gathering all of the information available in the escape room, students had to determine a particular diagnosis or medication recommendation, which led them to discovering a code to unlock a physical lock box in the classroom in order to escape and help their patient. I have also adapted this escape room for use in online environments.
In Spanish for Business courses, I have students submit job applications to a job ad related to their field of study, which include a cover letter and resumé in Spanish following standard Spanish conventions, and students complete an interview for their chosen job as part of their final project.
I won the College of Arts and Letters Teaching Innovation Award in 2019 for my course on Spanish for Health Professions.
Gamification and Virtual Reality
As previously mentioned, I employ gamification in my courses as games can add an experiential education component to the class without leaving the physical constraints of the classroom while also encouraging engagement and active learning. I initially started by incorporating games and simulations that mimic cross-cultural communication and culture shock. I created another online “escape room” for my Spanish language classes as an extra credit opportunity for students during quarantine. The theme of this particular escape room was Casa de papel – Money Heist. Students were “dropped” in Spain and had to figure out how to rob the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre – the National Treasury – in Madrid. Students collected clues and solved puzzles in Spanish to make their way to the Fábrica, enter it, steal all the money, and escape unharmed.
Then, I decided to gamify an entire course in which I completely re-conceptualized the course structure to mimic a game and to focus on mastering material learned in the class. The game was completely in Spanish and was pirate-themed to further explore the deep connection between Tampa Bay and its pirate history. Students started with 0 points and worked their way up the levels based on choices and feedback while focusing on mastering skills and gaining knowledge. Students “leveled-up” by gaining experience points (XP) when they completed different activities that were divided into categories called Voyages, Battles, Quests, and Treasure Chests. Final levels in the game corresponded to a letter grade. In addition to learning course content, students learned more about the pirate-history surrounding their university. I am currently conducting a study on students’ perceptions and linguistic gains to determine the efficacy of a gamified language course. Preliminary results indicate that students felt like the class was “fun” and “engaging” and that they were committed to completing assignments because of the added bonus of the game itself.
I have also started developing virtual reality (VR) simulations to deploy particularly in courses on Spanish for Health Professions to provide students with a low-stakes opportunity to practice Spanish in real-world scenarios while providing elements of fun and games to learning. I am currently developing the scenarios and the VR simulations for potential use in the Fall 2021 semester. While this is initially slated for Spanish for the Health Professions, there is considerable overlap that can be extrapolated to general Spanish language courses.
Diversity and Inclusivity in the Classroom
In my intermediate Spanish classes, I created a series of interconnected projects on social justice topics that students complete over the course of the semester. Students choose a social justice initiative that is of interest to them personally. Previous projects have centered around ageism, constitutional rights, education, equal rights, gender, human rights, LGBTQ rights, race, and religion. Students then become “experts” on that topic by the end of the semester as they complete discussions and ferias – information fairs – and record commercials and talk shows.
Furthermore, I designed class sessions dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. To begin, I randomly gave students an adjective that they placed on their forehead without previously seeing it. Then, students sat across from each other and had conversations in Spanish while treating the person based solely on their adjective. For example, if a student was randomly assigned the word “lazy,” the other students in the class would make comments about their laziness, and if the “lazy” student said they wanted to go to medical school, the other students would ask if that was the best idea. This particular activity was done in my course on Spanish for the Health Professions. After this activity, we had a discussion about stereotypes and how they can affect patients and health care professionals in the quality of care given and the willingness to accept treatment. Following the discussion, we watched Jane Elliot’s Angry Eyes, which was an experiment she conducted with college students where students with certain eye colors were treated as lesser than students with a different eye color. Students wrote down their feelings and emotions during the video, which we then debriefed and discussed deeper once the video ended.
By incorporating these concepts into the language classroom, students have the opportunity to examine their own thoughts and opinions surrounding these topics and to hear from their fellow classmates while using the target language. It is essential to help students find their own voice and determine what they do believe while emphasizing the importance of listening to and respecting others. I try to make the classroom space a safe learning environment by modeling for students respect for others even when there are differing opinions and by having tough conversations to learn from others.
Service-learning and Study Abroad
Service-learning opportunities provide a unique experience for students to practice what they learn in the classroom. I have partnered with local, Hispanic-serving clinics, where my students volunteer and create informational brochures in Spanish about chronic conditions prevalent to Hispanic populations, such as hypertension and diabetes. I have also developed and led service-learning study abroad trips to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru. These trips were academic in nature as well as service-oriented and were for students studying Spanish and health. Students worked in medical clinics for one to four weeks (depending on the trip), lived with host families, and participated in cultural excursions in order to improve their communicative skills, learn the culture, and practice clinical skills. Based on the end of course surveys, students said that these service-learning opportunities were exceptional experiences in which they improved their Spanish and hands-on clinical skills while having fun and being fully engaged with the learning process. I was responsible for developing the academic programs; making housing, clinical, and excursion-related arrangements; and living in-country alongside my students.
Mentorship
My passion for teaching extends beyond the classroom as mentorship is extremely important to me. I have mentored seven students outside of the classroom on grant-funded research during my time at The University of Tampa. Students and I meet regularly to develop research ideas, to collect data, to discuss their progress, to run statistics and data analysis, and to find possible presentation and publication venues. I help students with conference abstract writing and presentations, and we have presented at university, regional, state, national, and international conferences. My students and I have received funding to conduct research and present our findings. Within my courses, I have also mentored 24 groups on research projects as a main course component. Ten of these groups have gone on to present their research at the university’s research symposium, and four have submitted their results for publication at The University of Tampa Press.
This statement discusses my goals as a professor, the courses I teach, the use of gamification and virtual reality (VR) in my classes, diversity and inclusion in my classroom, service-learning and study abroad courses, and mentorship.
Overview
I have experience teaching undergraduate courses from introductory Spanish language to upper-level classes on Spanish for the Professions and teaching methodology. I am also an Honors professor and teach freshmen seminars on the intersection of language, culture, and health; and I lead Honors independent studies. At the graduate level, I have submitted a course titled Spanish for Professional Communication for an interdisciplinary Master’s degree, which has been approved for teaching in a future semester.
My goal as a professor is two-fold. The first is related to developing linguistic and intercultural skills whether students are in a Spanish-language specific class or a class taught in English. I achieve this goal by facilitating communication in the target language or discussion in English and by emphasizing cultural sensitivity and awareness. The second goal relates to fostering higher-level critical thinking and problem-solving skills. To do so, I promote self-exploration through reflection and push for deep thinking by asking pointed questions which students consider in collaborative discussions.
My teaching philosophy is based on both experience and research in the fact that learning occurs through engagement, which also promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and linguistic and intercultural development. In the language classroom, I incorporate communicative activities in all of my courses including those at the beginning levels. For example, instead of just listening to a presentation on weather and the proper way to talk about the weather in Spanish, my students make their own weather broadcasts based on different Spanish-speaking cities around the world and present them to the class. In other courses, students design games to teach the class a topic or create anuncios – video commercials – to concisely demonstrate their points of view on a topic while building additional skills through technology.
Courses on Spanish for the Professions
I teach courses on Spanish for the Professions. I have taught intermediate and advanced Spanish for the Health Professions and have planned an advanced level course on Spanish for Business. My intermediate Spanish for the Health Professions course is a research designated class in which students complete full-scale research projects. I give students the option of conducting a systematic review or a survey-based research project which they submit for approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Students choose a topic related to Latinx culture or the Spanish language and health. Previous projects have investigated the effects of vaping in Latinx populations, machismo and mental health in Latin America, and the impact of machismo on willingness to accept treatment in college-aged Latinos.
In addition to completing a research project, students learn about Latinx health disparities, social determinants of health, pronunciation, morphemes, cultural practices, translation and interpretation, medical terminology, and translanguaging skills. I also teach students how to take blood pressure (as I am certified) as well as the differences in blood pressure levels and blood glucose levels as hypertension and diabetes are very prevalent in Latinx communities.
I also re-designed the “Game of Life” to demonstrate cultural differences that exist not only between the U.S. and Spanish-speaking countries but also to illustrate health disparities and social determinants of health that are prevalent in those countries. In the game, students spin the wheel to determine the path of the game to follow. Country paths included Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the U.S., where players followed an authentic path of life mirroring citizens from those countries. This means that players spun the wheel to determine demographics such as country of origin, education choices, career paths, housing arrangements, and quality of life. Throughout the game, they would go through life events such as marriage, parenthood, and divorce, as well as buying houses, losing houses, and other difficult decisions based on statistics from the country of origin. After playing this game in class, students said that they could feel the weight of decisions they made not only in the game but also in the real world and gained a greater awareness of the inequalities and inequities that exist.
Additionally, I created an “escape room” as a review activity at the end of the semester. In this particular class, students collected clues and patient information by using both critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills. After gathering all of the information available in the escape room, students had to determine a particular diagnosis or medication recommendation, which led them to discovering a code to unlock a physical lock box in the classroom in order to escape and help their patient. I have also adapted this escape room for use in online environments.
In Spanish for Business courses, I have students submit job applications to a job ad related to their field of study, which include a cover letter and resumé in Spanish following standard Spanish conventions, and students complete an interview for their chosen job as part of their final project.
I won the College of Arts and Letters Teaching Innovation Award in 2019 for my course on Spanish for Health Professions.
Gamification and Virtual Reality
As previously mentioned, I employ gamification in my courses as games can add an experiential education component to the class without leaving the physical constraints of the classroom while also encouraging engagement and active learning. I initially started by incorporating games and simulations that mimic cross-cultural communication and culture shock. I created another online “escape room” for my Spanish language classes as an extra credit opportunity for students during quarantine. The theme of this particular escape room was Casa de papel – Money Heist. Students were “dropped” in Spain and had to figure out how to rob the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre – the National Treasury – in Madrid. Students collected clues and solved puzzles in Spanish to make their way to the Fábrica, enter it, steal all the money, and escape unharmed.
Then, I decided to gamify an entire course in which I completely re-conceptualized the course structure to mimic a game and to focus on mastering material learned in the class. The game was completely in Spanish and was pirate-themed to further explore the deep connection between Tampa Bay and its pirate history. Students started with 0 points and worked their way up the levels based on choices and feedback while focusing on mastering skills and gaining knowledge. Students “leveled-up” by gaining experience points (XP) when they completed different activities that were divided into categories called Voyages, Battles, Quests, and Treasure Chests. Final levels in the game corresponded to a letter grade. In addition to learning course content, students learned more about the pirate-history surrounding their university. I am currently conducting a study on students’ perceptions and linguistic gains to determine the efficacy of a gamified language course. Preliminary results indicate that students felt like the class was “fun” and “engaging” and that they were committed to completing assignments because of the added bonus of the game itself.
I have also started developing virtual reality (VR) simulations to deploy particularly in courses on Spanish for Health Professions to provide students with a low-stakes opportunity to practice Spanish in real-world scenarios while providing elements of fun and games to learning. I am currently developing the scenarios and the VR simulations for potential use in the Fall 2021 semester. While this is initially slated for Spanish for the Health Professions, there is considerable overlap that can be extrapolated to general Spanish language courses.
Diversity and Inclusivity in the Classroom
In my intermediate Spanish classes, I created a series of interconnected projects on social justice topics that students complete over the course of the semester. Students choose a social justice initiative that is of interest to them personally. Previous projects have centered around ageism, constitutional rights, education, equal rights, gender, human rights, LGBTQ rights, race, and religion. Students then become “experts” on that topic by the end of the semester as they complete discussions and ferias – information fairs – and record commercials and talk shows.
Furthermore, I designed class sessions dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. To begin, I randomly gave students an adjective that they placed on their forehead without previously seeing it. Then, students sat across from each other and had conversations in Spanish while treating the person based solely on their adjective. For example, if a student was randomly assigned the word “lazy,” the other students in the class would make comments about their laziness, and if the “lazy” student said they wanted to go to medical school, the other students would ask if that was the best idea. This particular activity was done in my course on Spanish for the Health Professions. After this activity, we had a discussion about stereotypes and how they can affect patients and health care professionals in the quality of care given and the willingness to accept treatment. Following the discussion, we watched Jane Elliot’s Angry Eyes, which was an experiment she conducted with college students where students with certain eye colors were treated as lesser than students with a different eye color. Students wrote down their feelings and emotions during the video, which we then debriefed and discussed deeper once the video ended.
By incorporating these concepts into the language classroom, students have the opportunity to examine their own thoughts and opinions surrounding these topics and to hear from their fellow classmates while using the target language. It is essential to help students find their own voice and determine what they do believe while emphasizing the importance of listening to and respecting others. I try to make the classroom space a safe learning environment by modeling for students respect for others even when there are differing opinions and by having tough conversations to learn from others.
Service-learning and Study Abroad
Service-learning opportunities provide a unique experience for students to practice what they learn in the classroom. I have partnered with local, Hispanic-serving clinics, where my students volunteer and create informational brochures in Spanish about chronic conditions prevalent to Hispanic populations, such as hypertension and diabetes. I have also developed and led service-learning study abroad trips to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru. These trips were academic in nature as well as service-oriented and were for students studying Spanish and health. Students worked in medical clinics for one to four weeks (depending on the trip), lived with host families, and participated in cultural excursions in order to improve their communicative skills, learn the culture, and practice clinical skills. Based on the end of course surveys, students said that these service-learning opportunities were exceptional experiences in which they improved their Spanish and hands-on clinical skills while having fun and being fully engaged with the learning process. I was responsible for developing the academic programs; making housing, clinical, and excursion-related arrangements; and living in-country alongside my students.
Mentorship
My passion for teaching extends beyond the classroom as mentorship is extremely important to me. I have mentored seven students outside of the classroom on grant-funded research during my time at The University of Tampa. Students and I meet regularly to develop research ideas, to collect data, to discuss their progress, to run statistics and data analysis, and to find possible presentation and publication venues. I help students with conference abstract writing and presentations, and we have presented at university, regional, state, national, and international conferences. My students and I have received funding to conduct research and present our findings. Within my courses, I have also mentored 24 groups on research projects as a main course component. Ten of these groups have gone on to present their research at the university’s research symposium, and four have submitted their results for publication at The University of Tampa Press.