Summer 2014 Edition
Faculty Showcase
Cari Jiménez
Adjunct Professor, Humanities and Foreign Languages
Tell us a little bit about your teaching
experience.
I started my teaching career in
graduate school 20 years ago and as
any TA, I knew a lot about the subject
matter but nothing about teaching. In
those days graduate programs did not
offer any teaching guidance or
methodology courses. I made a lot of
mistakes and I learned from them. I
also learned by reading books about
pedagogy and language
teaching methodology.
Why did you sign up for the CCTL
Cohort 1?
After graduation, I taught in several
schools and I knew that I had a passion
for teaching and that I loved my
students. I wanted to be an effective
teacher, a “master teacher,” which led
me to complete a degree in Instruction
16
and Curriculum and to take many
professional development courses
that enhanced and developed my
teaching style . But, teaching is an art
and the more I practice my craft the
more I realize that I still have a lot to
learn. That is the reason I jumped at
the opportunity when Santa Fe College
offered the Certificate for Classroom
Teaching and Learning (CCTL). I know
that to be an effective teacher, I need
to be actively seeking opportunities
for professional development. Why?
Learning and teaching is organic. It
changes constantly, new discoveries
made about the brain and how it
learns inform the strategies we use to
teach ourselves and others.
Additionally, every generation of
students has different expectations
and needs, so we must change to
remain effective. We must meet those
needs using the most effective
strategies and tools.