Dr. (Mrs.) Joyce De-Graft Acquah

 

Teaching is a noble profession that affords one the opportunity to affect positive change. My passion is working with people to  make positive impact on their lives.  In 2003, shortly after earning my Bachelor of Arts, I worked as a district facilitator on the Community School Alliances Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ghana, West Africa. As a youthful community development worker, I realised that peace is one of the most important keys to development and prosperity in developing countries like Ghana, because without peace, there would be no development. Throughout the course of my career,  I witnessed how disputes and conflicts halted and or  delay projects. Understanding the importance of peace and its role in development, I resolved to dedicate my life to peace education and to teaching peace and conflict resolution at the highest level. As a professor of peace and development studies, I hope to distinguish myself.

 

By nature, humans are inquisitive. The purpose of education should be to encourage the pursuit of answers, as this is how we advance and transform the world. To further motivate seeking answers to the questions that surround us, I encourage my students to ask themselves questions through "discovery," a mode of learning that necessitates multiple perspectives so that students have a variety of options from which to construct their own knowledge. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to provide students with guidance and support in order to facilitate their discovery without over-directing the learning process. In addition, I believe in high-quality academic instruction, which is referred to as instruction  tailored to the educational levels of students. It offers opportunities for critical thinking and analysis, employs effective feedback to direct student thought, and broadens students' prior knowledge.

 In order for my approach to discovery learning to be effective, I interact directly with students. This allows me to adapt instruction and learning to the needs of students when necessary. If a student feels a personal connection to a teacher, communicates frequently with the teacher, and receives more guidance, encouragement, and constructive feedback from the teacher than criticism, the student is more likely to trust the teacher, be more engaged in the presentation of academic content, demonstrate better classroom behavior, and achieve at higher academic levels. In addition, I believe that by fostering positive relationships with my students, I create a classroom environment that is more conducive to learning and meets my students' academic, emotional, and developmental needs. To be an effective educator, I interact with students from disparate backgrounds who may have varying learning styles. This is particularly important in the discipline of peace studies, which promotes peace.

Exams, debates, and group projects are some of the assessment techniques I employ in the classroom to provide my students and me with valuable real-time feedback on the teaching-learning process. This lends credence to the notion that teaching is an ongoing process of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection that assists students in becoming more adept at monitoring their own learning. In addition to in-class assignments, I designate students take-home essays that encourage critical thinking and analysis. In addition, I utilise simulation exercises to bring students as near as possible to the application of theory in real-world scenarios. This method is especially advantageous if students are unable to gain practical experience during contact periods. Finally, I allow students to submit essay drafts on time so they can receive feedback on their work and move on to the next stage of their education: incorporating feedback into their ongoing learning processes.

 In an effort to advance knowledge, I participate in workshops and conferences to improve my teaching skills and gain a more thorough comprehension of the theoretical and practical foundations of peace and development studies.