Teaching Philosophy
As Aristotle pointed out, a sense of wonder is the beginning of all inquiry. In my teaching, I strive to share my sense of wonder as I motivate my students to develop and explore their own curiosity about the topic under investigation. The result is a worthwhile learning experience for all students pursuing a liberal arts education. As one student in my Language & Culture course wrote in the course evaluation, “For being a non-major, I found it very interesting and compelling.” Another noted, “I felt like the teacher organized the course so that people from multiple disciplines would be able to gain value from the information. I appreciated the organization of the lectures and the teacher’s knowledge as well as interest in the subject.”
Prior to beginning my graduate studies, I received formal training as a secondary science educator, and gained experience working with linguistic minority students as an English teacher. I carried my passion for teaching into graduate school and embraced the numerous teaching opportunities I found there. By the time I defended my doctoral dissertation, I had taught, as the instructor of record, fourteen sections of six unique courses, ranging in size from small seminars to large lectures. In addition, as a teaching assistant, I taught several discussion sections for another two courses. By a rough count, I have worked with around a thousand students over the past six years as a university instructor, having taught at the University of Colorado for the Department of Linguistics, the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures, and the Program for Writing & Rhetoric, as well as at Colorado State University for the Department of Anthropology.
In my teaching, I place a strong emphasis on critical analysis, argument, and inquiry. I want my students to come away not only with knowledge but with understanding. That is, instead of merely learning facts, I want them to be able to critically evaluate ideas and to contextualize the knowledge they gain within the broader context of their lives. I facilitate this by working with students to establish an atmosphere of respect, creativity, and expressive freedom. I stress that critical evaluation of ideas first requires understanding those ideas as laid out by others. Intellectual inquiry therefore demands that we step outside our usual frames of reference to explore issues from different angles. It also requires an openness to rethink our own ideas; and recognition of the distinction between ideas and individuals. I ask that we all practice the art of thoughtfully and constructively challenging ideas while respecting the conveyor of those ideas. This allows us to create a community of learners where everyone can build on each other's knowledge, learn from our different experiences, and grow together intellectually.
As I embrace the role of an authority on the course material, I work to position my students as authorities in their own right. I challenge my students, as young scholars, to take ownership of their learning so they become engaged in an active, two-way learning process that honors their curiosity. I do enjoy the genre of the university lecture, but view it more in terms of talking with students than lecturing to them. I make use of the Socratic method in large lectures when appropriate, and relish opportunities to lead lively discussions in small class settings. As one student wrote on a course evaluation, “He interacted with the class instead of just lecturing.” Ultimately, it is such interaction that I hope to create. Interaction between the students and the teacher. Interaction between the students and their peers. Interaction between the students and the topic under investigation. To facilitate such interaction, I often make use of a peer feedback component in assignments as well as student-led discussions of course material. This helps to position students as active scholars involved in their own learning as well as the intellectual development of the classroom community.
My teaching philosophy leads me to set high expectations for my students, and with hard work comes great reward. One student summed it up this way in a course evaluation: “Very unique good class. Very hard but also learned a lot!” Another emphasized, “It was worth the hard work!”