During Teacher Training

During the long time of my teacher training studies, I worked in different educational contexts:

• As English teacher at Agenskalna Gimnazija in Riga, Latvia (for one year)
• As German as a Foreign Language teacher at Xiangtan University in Xiangtan, Hunan, PRC (for three years);
  summer intensive course teacher at the German College of Tongji University, Shanghai;
  intensive course teacher for Eurasia Institute (Berlin) in Beijing for a spring course and an intensive semester
• As leader of compulsory education courses (mainly working with Afghan refugees) in Eisenstadt, Austria
• As English, biology, chemistry, geography teacher at a Waldorf school in Vienna, Austria

As a Regular Teacher

Since 2020, I’ve had the privilege of being a middle school teacher in Vienna.

This role is, for me, one of the most rewarding kinds of exploration: the journey into young minds and the process of helping them discover their own capacity for curiosity, critical thinking, and learning.

My Teaching Philosophy: Fostering an Explorer’s Mindset

I believe that every student is a nascent explorer.

My aim as an educator is to provide them with the tools, encouragement, and environment to embark on their own “microexplorations” of knowledge.

This means:

• Sparking Curiosity:
  Encouraging questions, even the ones that seem to go off the beaten path.
  
• Connecting Knowledge to the World:
  Drawing on my diverse background in ecology, anthropology, and international experiences to show how classroom learning connects to the vibrant, complex world outside.
  
• Building Resilience:
  Helping students understand that learning, like any exploration, involves challenges, setbacks, and the immense satisfaction of overcoming them.
  
• Celebrating Discovery:
  Creating a space where every student’s “aha!” moment is valued.

Bringing Diverse Worlds into the Classroom:

My background as an ecologist and cultural anthropologist allows me to bring unique perspectives to my teaching.

Whether it’s explaining biological concepts through real-world ecological examples or discussing cultural understanding with insights from firsthand experience, I strive to make learning a vivid and engaging adventure.

My background also helps to remember, in the middle of all the challenges teachers nowadays face, that the students themselves have diverse backgrounds which can both hinder and help.

They themselves form a diverse microcosm of the wider world!

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Ultimately, my goal as an educator is to empower students to become lifelong learners and confident explorers of their own potential and the world around them.