Teaching Philosophy
I am honored to receive the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education and am really thankful. This award is particularly meaningful for me, as it is given for my teaching of the course UGED1602 Living with grief: Understanding death, dying, and bereavement.
About six years ago, when I started my work at CUHK, I had a dream—a dream of developing a course on the topic of death, dying and bereavement. I once said that, “if possible, I hope that we may not need to learn about this topic only when we experience the most painful moment—the death of a loved one.” In the second term of 2012–13, my dream came true, and this course was finally offered.
To be honest, the title of this course, “Living with grief”, reflects to a great extent my teaching philosophy. If grief is part of our human experience, how can we face this experience in our life? I invite students to review, reflect on, and explore how we may face our own grief. Do we need to deny grief? Do we need to fight against grief? Or, may we accept grief as part of our personal growth and still say “yes” to life? A key question that I invite students to explore in this course is, “How may we live with grief but also live a meaningful life?”
Understanding death, dying and bereavement also gives me an insight into life: “Time is limited”. Death may bring us fears and tears but also a sense of urgency to make the best use of our time. Time is limited. How can we make the best use of time in this course? This teaching motto reminds us to treasure the time we are together in the course. It is also my invitation to the students: Search for the meaning of studying in the course, particularly in the context of limited time. In this way, I try to enhance students’ responsibility for their own learning. I invite them to make the course more meaningful together with me: It is not just a course; it is “our” course.
“Time is limited” also facilitates my reflection on what the most important thing is in teaching. With limited time, what should be emphasized? As a social work teacher, I think the essence is “values”. Depending on the nature of the course, we may have to impart different knowledge and skills. Yet, without understanding our values, such as our concern for those who are disadvantaged and our unconditional positive regard for human beings in general, this knowledge and these skills lose their real meaning. That’s why I make use of different learning methods. I dedicate songs to students in the lecture, or show video clips, and help them to reflect on their values in life and for humanity. Death is not special, and in fact it happens every day. But death is important, as it reflects our genuine concerns for humanity and life. Genuineness is important in my teaching as a social work teacher. I have realized that my teaching philosophy is something that I not only “teach” but also something that I genuinely “live”. Without living the teaching philosophy, I cannot set a good example of being a genuine social work teacher.
I really treasure the opportunity of meeting different students in the GE course. Some of them are interested in the topic of death and bereavement and would like to know more. Some attend this course with their own unique bereavement experience. I am thankful that I have a chance to witness their personal reflections and growth in this course.
I would like to say this course, “Living with grief”, is not only about death, dying and bereavement but also about life, living and meaning. I always share a teaching motto with students, “Time is limited”, but add this at the end of the course: “Time is limited, but limited enough to make our life meaningful”.
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