“The whole art of teaching is only the art of
awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it
afterwards.” - Anatole France
My first teaching experience was when I was seven, trying to teach my three-year-old sister how to read. I ended up chasing her around the house and yelling “how can you not get it!” In the end, both of us were frustrated, and I thought I could never become a teacher. Much has changed since then; my life has been touched by great teachers, and I realized that I, too, had a passion for teaching. Teaching to me is not just simply passing on what I know, but more importantly about opening the door for others, igniting the sense of curiosity within them, and continually inspiring them as they embark on their own quest for knowledge. In my experience, I have always loved getting my brain picked by an interesting question, or simply seeing the student’s face brimming with joy and excitement when they discover something new. I have learned that people usually learn the best when their minds are open, when they find what they are learning personally relevant, and when they are having fun.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in experiential learning and whole person development. As a teacher, I see my role as not only a subject-matter expert, but also a coach who helps students give voice to their values and discover their full potentials. In my teaching, I incorporate classroom activities, class discussion, reflective writing exercises in addition to lecture and team projects to help students engage with the topics in a holistic, experiential manner. In terms of Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, for every class topic students would go through the experiential learning cycle: experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. I encourage and challenge my students to go beyond the knowledge covered in class and look for ways in which it will benefit them in their personal lives and chosen career paths. In the end, students will learn how to learn, discover things that are exciting and important to them, and be equipped with the fundamental knowledge and skills to go forward.
Teaching Experience
During my study at Case Western Reserve University, I assisted in many Organizational Behavior courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My responsibilities included lecture planning and delivery, facilitating class sessions, grading, coaching, and advising students. Thanks to the various designs of the courses offered at Case, my classroom experience has ranged from lecturing to 50 students to working with small teams of 10 on team building to coaching one-on-one. I have also collected and tried different classroom exercises shared by others at the Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference to enhance students’ learning.
I stayed true to my philosophy even when I was offered the opportunity to co-teach Statistics courses with Dr. Jagdip Singh in the Marketing department. Statistics are not normally categorized as "fun" or "interesting" for most undergraduate (or even MBA) students. I used datasets that included examples relevant to students, such as cars, beers, and telephone services, and prepared Power-point slides with point-and-click instructions of how to perform statistical analyses in Excel and SPSS. I also gave bonus questions to encourage them to go find out the situations in the market today and draw managerial insights from their own observations and research, beyond just the correlations and regressions done in class. They gave me pleasant surprises. In the MBA section of the class, one team even went out to the Cleveland airport and collected data to further support their claims about what United Airlines could do to keep their hub in Cleveland.
Outside the classroom, I am a coach and mentor, which is influenced by my experience as an executive coach and a T-group facilitator. Being personally invested in students and helping guide them through their learning process make me feel accomplished and fulfilled. It made my day when I received feedback from a student, “Mai has given me the confidence to press forward toward my goal.”
Teaching Interests
Aligned with my teaching philosophy, teaching experience, and research interest, the courses I am interested in teaching are those in organizational behavior, leadership, diversity, and team dynamics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I am also interested in teaching cross-cultural management, research methods, and statistics courses. While I have not yet taught doctoral students, it is a challenge I am looking forward to.
Teaching is one part of academia that is very important and meaningful to me. Not only do I wish to make positive impacts on others' lives, but I also enjoy learning from others and discovering more about myself as a person, educator, and researcher. My students will in turn have impacts on people around them—their families, friends, teams, and organizations. In the end, my teaching becomes a big cycle paying forward what has been gifted upon me, and hopefully making the world a better place.
My first teaching experience was when I was seven, trying to teach my three-year-old sister how to read. I ended up chasing her around the house and yelling “how can you not get it!” In the end, both of us were frustrated, and I thought I could never become a teacher. Much has changed since then; my life has been touched by great teachers, and I realized that I, too, had a passion for teaching. Teaching to me is not just simply passing on what I know, but more importantly about opening the door for others, igniting the sense of curiosity within them, and continually inspiring them as they embark on their own quest for knowledge. In my experience, I have always loved getting my brain picked by an interesting question, or simply seeing the student’s face brimming with joy and excitement when they discover something new. I have learned that people usually learn the best when their minds are open, when they find what they are learning personally relevant, and when they are having fun.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in experiential learning and whole person development. As a teacher, I see my role as not only a subject-matter expert, but also a coach who helps students give voice to their values and discover their full potentials. In my teaching, I incorporate classroom activities, class discussion, reflective writing exercises in addition to lecture and team projects to help students engage with the topics in a holistic, experiential manner. In terms of Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, for every class topic students would go through the experiential learning cycle: experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. I encourage and challenge my students to go beyond the knowledge covered in class and look for ways in which it will benefit them in their personal lives and chosen career paths. In the end, students will learn how to learn, discover things that are exciting and important to them, and be equipped with the fundamental knowledge and skills to go forward.
Teaching Experience
During my study at Case Western Reserve University, I assisted in many Organizational Behavior courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My responsibilities included lecture planning and delivery, facilitating class sessions, grading, coaching, and advising students. Thanks to the various designs of the courses offered at Case, my classroom experience has ranged from lecturing to 50 students to working with small teams of 10 on team building to coaching one-on-one. I have also collected and tried different classroom exercises shared by others at the Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference to enhance students’ learning.
I stayed true to my philosophy even when I was offered the opportunity to co-teach Statistics courses with Dr. Jagdip Singh in the Marketing department. Statistics are not normally categorized as "fun" or "interesting" for most undergraduate (or even MBA) students. I used datasets that included examples relevant to students, such as cars, beers, and telephone services, and prepared Power-point slides with point-and-click instructions of how to perform statistical analyses in Excel and SPSS. I also gave bonus questions to encourage them to go find out the situations in the market today and draw managerial insights from their own observations and research, beyond just the correlations and regressions done in class. They gave me pleasant surprises. In the MBA section of the class, one team even went out to the Cleveland airport and collected data to further support their claims about what United Airlines could do to keep their hub in Cleveland.
Outside the classroom, I am a coach and mentor, which is influenced by my experience as an executive coach and a T-group facilitator. Being personally invested in students and helping guide them through their learning process make me feel accomplished and fulfilled. It made my day when I received feedback from a student, “Mai has given me the confidence to press forward toward my goal.”
Teaching Interests
Aligned with my teaching philosophy, teaching experience, and research interest, the courses I am interested in teaching are those in organizational behavior, leadership, diversity, and team dynamics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I am also interested in teaching cross-cultural management, research methods, and statistics courses. While I have not yet taught doctoral students, it is a challenge I am looking forward to.
Teaching is one part of academia that is very important and meaningful to me. Not only do I wish to make positive impacts on others' lives, but I also enjoy learning from others and discovering more about myself as a person, educator, and researcher. My students will in turn have impacts on people around them—their families, friends, teams, and organizations. In the end, my teaching becomes a big cycle paying forward what has been gifted upon me, and hopefully making the world a better place.