TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

My teaching career started in 1996 when I was appointed as an Assistant-Professor in Cell Biology at the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv. So, now I have more than 25 years teaching experience. I was responsible for the lectures and laboratory practices in Cell Biology, Clinical (Experimental) Immunology, Cytotoxicology, Molecular Development Biology, Medical technique IVF and Bionanotechnology. Each year, the course in Cell Biology, which is compulsory for 7 majors at the Faculty of Biology. I have applied different methods of teaching – classical lectures, seminars, discussions, problem based learning etc. Over the years, I found that different students have different interests, different levels of education and willingness to learn new things. This provoked me to change every year the approach and methods of teaching, as well as the assessment methods of the acquired knowledge. From the students’ feedback and their opinion about the training, I realized that each class has different preferences on learning and assessment. I found that the best way of teaching and enticing students is when the information is presented in an attractive way, when make associations with particular things in the life or involving jokes, aphorisms or riddles related to the specific topic. Assessment of the students’ knowledge should be rustic, but adequate and objective. The students have to accept the teacher not only as their mentor and advisor, but also as a friend. Each student must be able to make an objective self-assessment and to pointing his/her gaps and weaknesses and to identify the reasons. This approach builds a basis for further self-improvement, setting own goals and successful career.