FUTURE GOALS || TEACHING PORTFOLIO HOME

First and foremost, I believe that learning is an interactive and collaborative process. In my experience, students learn better when they are active and engaged. Thus, my first task as an instructor is to learn about my students-what interests and motivates them, what they hope to learn, and how they learn best. One simple way I show my concern as an instructor early on is by making a concerted effort to learn all of their names. I also often provide them with some sort of "getting to know you" activity. In classrooms that will be highly discussion oriented, it is often a game designed to open them up to sharing controversial opinions with one another. In more traditional classes, I give them introductory surveys to return to me. As a result of my beliefs about engaged learners, each class I teach is unique and tailored to my students' interests. I am not hesitant to use a number of different teaching styles in order to make my point. I am comfortable with traditional lectures, facilitated discussions, homework, demonstrations, small-group activities, use of computers and AV material, guest speakers, pop quizzes, essay tests, large-group activities, and any other method of conveying information that I think will help.

A second key feature of my teaching philosophy is the idea that students should be critical thinkers. Complementing this is my belief that students should be able to actually apply the material learned in classes. As a result, many of my homework assignments and in-class activities deal with questioning theories and their real-world utility. For example, I have had students interview older adults to see whether they could make sense of their experiences through the models of adult development we were learning about. Also, I often have students write journal entries applying information from class to things that have happened in their own lives. I have staged impromptu debates in order to get students thinking about both sides of controversial issues, and I often use assignments and activities that require students to deal with things outside their normal range of experiences, such as "being blind" for two hours. Students often claim to enjoy these types of activities quite a bit. They both help solidify knowledge presented to them in more traditional ways (e.g., lectures) and provide an experiential component that increases their understanding.

Another way I engage critical thinking and active learning is through relying on classroom discussion to draw out key points. In doing so, I model a number of important skills. I encourage them to test their own reading comprehension via interpreting the text aloud. I also allow them to speak to each other and to me about controversial topics, points of disagreement, and so on. This is especially important in the women's studies classroom, where topics can often be the subject of heated debate. Because I currently teach at a school that has number of politically conservative students, I have had to learn to negotiate discussions of oppression, racism, and similarly threatening topics with care. I feel that my student evaluations demonstrate that I have done just that.

Thirdly, I believe that a teacher should be, in a sense, transparent. In other words, I want students to understand that I base everything I do in class on a pedagogical belief, and I want them to know what those beliefs are. I want them to understand what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. I want them to know what they will learn in my classroom and how they will be assessed. Not only does this allow them to effectively evaluate how well they are doing, it also allows them to decide how well I am doing. I am always open to student feedback, and am willing to make changes in order to do my job more successfully. For example, I take midterm evaluations to see if students need me to make changes during the semester. Students respond positively to this, as I make it clear to them that it is a priority of mine that they learn and understand the material. I have learned, though, through years of interacting with students, that there is a fine line between changing to better serve students and simply being a pushover. This is an area of concern that I continually revisit in order to make sure that I am being firm and fair, yet appropriately flexible.

Lastly, I believe that a liberal arts education should provide skills beyond simple understanding of classroom topics. To that end, I focus on three main "life skills" that I believe students will carry with them into their working lives. These skills are 1) writing, 2) public speaking, and 3) technology. As a result, I often have students write papers in multiple drafts with a great deal of feedback along the way. I teach them more than just the basics of APA style-I also teach them sentence and paragraph structure, paper organization, and clarity of expression. I encourage, and sometimes require, students to present information to the class. Finally, I give students assignments requiring them to use technology, such as creating a web page or emailing an assignment. Overall, I believe that these key features of my teaching philosophy contribute to active, engaged student learning.