Teaching

Teaching Philosophy

I believe the social aspect is the most critical part about learning, and it is one of the most important aspects of my teaching pedagogy. I have been fortunate to have a wide variety of teaching experiences. From volunteering at a literacy center, to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) overseas and in community colleges to instructing first-year composition, and now an online, asynchronous foundations course as well as a capstone internship my teaching experiences have allowed me to develop a well-rounded philosophy of teaching that focuses on community building.  

Many students know they are already a part of multiple communities: family, church, work, and more shape and form students. My role as an educator is to help students become informed and aware that they are a part of a learning community through their written and oral communications. Moreover, as students develop their awareness of their learning community, I also engage students to become active, responsible members. I begin by including statements on what being a good community member entails (being a kind and generous colleague) in a welcome email and in the course syllabus as well as the importance of diversity in our classroom. In in-person classes, I build upon this by incorporating Harkness Discussions (round table discussions with students leading the conversations).These engagements start small and then expand to develop student autonomy. In online, asynchronous courses, I develop this by weekly icebreakers and book club discussions.

Knowing that students are part of multi-modal, multi-disciplinary communities, I integrate activities and assignments that foster collaboration and group work. I further use these activities as scaffolding end pieces in project units. For example, in writing classes, I require peer review groups for all major projects. In pairs or small groups of threes, students review, critique, and offer suggestions for improvement to their peers. Before beginning the peer review process, however, I engage students in a class discussion where we define expectations for the process. In addition, I offer guiding questions to help students formulate their responses as readers. In the capstone internship course, students work on a semester-long project that benefits both the employer and the student. 

In addition, part of engaging with the community is recognizing and evaluating student work in multiple formats. For example, students not only have access to rubrics that I have created but they also take an active role in developing a rubric for one major assignment. This allows students to build consensus on what “best practices” are for a particular piece of communication. I also provide multiple forms of feedback and submission options. For instance, depending on student preferences, assignments can be graded through traditional in-text and summative comments, or I create videos and audio feedback. Students also have an option to use video or written posts for in-class writing assignments. 

Upon leaving my class, my goal is that students improve their writing and that they find their voice. They learn the mechanics of grammar, spelling, punctuation but more importantly they improve their organization, their cohesion of sentences, paragraphs, and they learn something more about themselves and the world around them. Moreover, my goal is to create autonomous learners. I hope that students, by seeing their new writing community and finding their voice, can put their knowledge and skills into practice and create meaning for themselves in ways they may not have thought previously.