![[me4.jpg|500]] This space is an effort to make my teaching and learning practice more transparent. As an English language teacher trainer, I strive to promote in each learner autonomy, reflective and shared practice, openness to dialogue through various perspectives, risk-taking, routine building, and purposeful decision-making. To this end, I share most of what I do as an educator and learner in Obsidian (this website), which includes open courseware and other related content. # Bio Benjamin L. Stewart is a full professor in EFL teacher training and a researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes with an interest in transparent professional learning. He holds a PhD in education with a specialization in instructional and curricular leadership and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in instruction and curriculum using technology. He produces an educational podcast at [benjaminlstewart.net](http://benjaminlstewart.net/) that focuses on making his own teaching and learning more transparent. # Educational Philosophy My educational philosophy is to facilitate learners in becoming more apt to form valid, reliable, and unbiased arguments; provide innovative solutions to real-life problems; make decisions that resolve cognitive conflict by developing understandings that result from embracing varying perspectives; and create innovative ways of communicating with others. My role is to guide learners from being dependent, to independent, to interdependent individuals who are not afraid to take chances, share successes and failures with others, and to care for the well-being of not only themselves but also of others. My goal is to help others become more daring, sharing, and caring individuals. # Assumptions The assumptions that I have about education certainly don't apply to everyone, but feel that it does apply to enough educators, trainers, and coaches (including myself) that it warrants reflection that underpins my own educational philosophy. - My natural tendency is to shy away from any formal planning process; yet, I find that using Notion facilitates the process, allowing me to get the most out of how I approach my teaching and learning practice. - I put more thought into my own teaching and learning practice if I am more transparent and willing to share. I feel it has more purpose. - I take my teaching practice serious but not personal. # Recommendations - [DuckDuckGo — Privacy, simplified.](https://duckduckgo.com/) - [Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance](https://app.grammarly.com/) - [Obsidian - Sharpen your thinking](https://obsidian.md/) - [The password manager trusted by millions | Bitwarden](https://bitwarden.com/) - [Todoist](https://app.todoist.com/app/today) - [Fedora Linux | The Fedora Project](https://fedoraproject.org/) - [Your LMS and Teams: better together for distance learning - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/your-lms-and-teams-better-together-for-distance-learning-35e3c70f-11b7-447d-a4d4-3964b27911ae)