Fan Liu

(209) 565-7337

Teaching Philosophy
fliu1@pacific.edu
I believe there are no failing students if the teacher is doing his
or her job right. A good educator will make their students feel
approachable but with respect. As an educator, my goals are to make
my students learn the knowledge not only by memorizing the concept
from my lecture, but also to use that piece of knowledge in real life.
Education for me is more like a mentoring process, not spoonfeeding my students in the lecture. I care more about what did they
gained from the lecture and how they relate to the information.
Teaching dental instrumentation for me is more like teaching a cooking
class; first of all I should have all the ingredients on the table, which
are the instruments. Second, I need to introduce to my students each
instrument; students need to have the basic understanding of each
instrument before attending this cooking class. Reading the recipe by
themselves before attending the class will definitely benefit them
during the class. So my philosophy is every student should read the
recipe before hand. Third step is demonstration; I do believe this part
should be in a small group then the student can observe better
compare with the large group. By the end of the demonstration, each
student should practice by using the receipe and be testrd by the
end of the section if they truly understand. For me, I will make pre-test
for my students because that makes they want to read the assessment
(receipe) what we will cover that day. In this way, they are well
prepared for that days section. Class diversity is not only about age
and gender; its also about many things like religion and minority. I
realize how difficult for some students on their academic or clinical
skills. As an instructor, I will spend more time with those students who
need more help and find out what are the barriers of learning difficulty.
In my teaching aspire to use a variety of teaching techniques, such as
visual, oral, sensory and power point and hand-on. All of those above
will make students more engaged in the class. Since we all know in the
Friday afternoons class if a teacher use monotone voice to read the
power point slide what will happen.
From my point of view, classroom-learning environment is very
critical especially in dental hygiene education. Developing students
critical thinking and problem-solving skills will be the main focused on
my teaching goal in hygiene education. Since each hygiene student
will seeing patients in their second semester, students should build up
their confidence level by the end the first semester and be ready to
provide the best patients care when they start their clinic work.
Students should feel empowered when they are seeing patients
because they have the knowledge and skill set by what their profession
requires, and they know they are confidently able to perform the

Fan Liu

(209) 565-7337

higher level of patient care. As a instructor, I will not only focus on my

students academic outstanding but also on their development of
responsibility, flexibility, timing, a professional demeanor, the
standards of a strong work ethic, discipline, and how to function both
independently and collaboratively. Ultimately, they should feel
comfortable to work with other team members in a dental team.
A successful educator will not only consider how many A+
students they have in their class but should consider how each student
is well prepared to get their foot underground and get hired as a
registered dental hygienist. My job is focusing on building up this
relationship and get my students well prepared to face the cruel
competition outside the school for job seeking.
My philosophy is this: Teaching is not reading a book for your
student. It's the combination of the knowledge of what you know plus
the experience you have and inform that concept to the students and
they can then easily be able to adapt and use it in real life.
Sincerely,
Fan Liu

Fan Liu

(209) 565-7337