DR. CHOFLÁ 'S LIQUID SYLLABUS
Welcome, co-learner and co-teacher!
Welcome to Butte College!
My name is Dr. Shaun-Adrián Choflá, and I will be your co-learner and co-teacher in the Fall 2024 semester that officially begins on Monday, August 26. I am checking in early to help you settle before our class starts.
In the menu, you will notice the online and the in-person courses I am teaching in Fall 2024. Pick the course or courses of mine you are attending to review my welcome message.
With care,
Dr. Choflá
(Él/Him/Them)
MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My teaching philosophy is that, just like you, I am both a co-learner and a co-teacher and that together, as a learning community, we will build knowledge together. All of us in this class will be learning with and from each other.
This teaching approach reflects how I teach and what it means to me to be a teacher. Four goals underpin my philosophy: (1) increasing student self-efficacy and personal empowerment, (2) differentiating
instruction to support diverse learners, (3) ensuring that curricula are relevant and meaningful, and (4) providing authentic collaboration and community-building opportunities.
My philosophy and these four goals describe the essence of my teaching philosophy, not just for this class but all of my classes, whether at the community college, graduate school or even when learning with and from young children.
COLLECTIVE
EXPECTATIONS
What you can expect from me
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I will be vulnerable and take the same types of risks that I ask you to take.
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I will provide you with a clear, organized course designed to ensure you meet our course goals meaningfully.
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I will provide a mixture of resources and engaging activities to meet your learning needs.
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I will be actively present in your learning. I will respond to your canvas messages and emails promptly and provide timely feedback on your assignment submissions.
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I will reach out to you when I feel you might need support.
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I will treat you with dignity and respect and be flexible to support your individual needs.
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I will view my own mistakes as an opportunity to learn and grow and embrace all feedback you graciously share with me.
What I will expect from you
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You will be open to taking risks, with the understanding that disequilibrium, those feelings of fear we feel doing new things, are an important aspect of our growth and development.
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You will strive to be an active co-learner in this course and strive to meet due dates.
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You will maintain an open line of communication with me, so I understand how to support you. You will reach out with questions as soon as, if not before, you begin to feel confused or frustrated.
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You will strive to regularly contribute to collaborative activities to ensure other members of our learning community have ample opportunity to read/listen, reflect, and respond to your ideas.
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You will treat your co-learners with dignity and respect, understanding that wherever others are right now in their learning, at this moment, is exactly where they need to be.
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You will do your best to have patience with technology and yourself in navigating it. There will be hiccups; expect them. Let me know, and we will get through them together.
CO-LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
As a co-learner and co-teacher, your voice is needed, wanted, valued, and critical to our collaborative learning journey.
The environment in this class should be one of safety; therefore, it is important that we collectively respect one another’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings and listen with an engaged and caring ear.
In a class with more participation, you might experience moments of disequilibrium. These moments of imbalance can be challenging and create tensions and conflicts within us and our interactions with others. Disequilibrium is a positive aspect of our development because out of disequilibrium comes real learning. To this end, we must all take risks to grow effectively and become fully empowered humans and future professionals who can support others in validating and transformative ways.