Teaching Experience

Validation, motivation, and individualization; these are values upon which I have built my philosophy. In the classroom, I strive to build an environment of acceptance and encouragement from the very beginning. Gaining the trust and respect of my students is important to me, and I take time to address progress, provide possible solutions, discuss opportunities, and celebrate successes to build that trust. I recognize that students enter the post-secondary setting with hopes, goals, and insecurities, and I aim to help them determine what potential trajectories for their future might include. In other words, I don’t see my students as people who fill chairs in my class; I see them as individuals with objectives. For students who do not know what they would like to pursue, I advise them in determining their current skillset and deciding on what skills they need to acquire or strengthen to fulfill professional requirements and expectations in the workforce. For those who already have an idea or are further along in their collegiate career, I help them find opportunities for professional development or resume building. I want my students to be proud of themselves and what they’ve accomplished, knowing that they can continue to accomplish things beyond graduation. Thus, while I have a general structure to my course schedule, I create the space for flex days, where my students and I can explore topics in more depth; I have found that this method increases motivation and ownership of learning.

Similarly, curricula, projects, in-class activities, and assessments in my courses are designed to stimulate metacognitive thinking and meaningful discussions. I often utilize project-based learning and guided/independent practice techniques in my day-to-day lessons. If I need to lecture, I usually lean more towards lecture-discussion. While I do think that some topics and learning objectives are conducive to lecture-based teaching, I recognize that my students may benefit more from learning and practicing the content in different ways. As such, I structure the lesson to include time for engaging with that content, giving them the space to wrestle with what they’ve learned and check their own comprehension. My assessment design is rooted in the desire for my students to use some of their submissions as artifacts to add to their professional portfolios, such as press releases, fliers, photos, and podcast episodes. For example, students are able to revise and resubmit these assignments for feedback so that their work is polished and usable in their job applications. Ultimately, I strive to become their facilitator of learning and subject mastery, rather than just their instructor.

Writing-intensive Courses
With my background in English, I have had the opportunity to focus on my writing instruction in many courses. Whether these courses were explicitly teaching writing or incorporated many writing-based assignments, I have developed and continue to add to my philosophy regarding writing instruction. Students with all ranges of skills and backgrounds have entered my classroom; for instance, I have worked with several nontraditional students, who pushed me to consider how I relay information and construct feedback. Similar to my overall teaching philosophy, I tend to individualize my instruction, comments, and encouragement depending on the student and their needs. I recognize that writing can be a vulnerable and apprehensive endeavor, and so I work to build my students’ confidence and self-efficacy moving forward. I do this through written feedback on assignments as well as discussions with the student directly. My feedback is structured so that they can easily understand what they have done well (and can continue to do) in addition to what they need to work on. Additionally, I stick to an incremental schedule for students to naturally pace their work, giving enough time for me to provide feedback, us to discuss anything, and them to reflect and feel confident on their submissions. My hope is that students will leave my classroom knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are as a writer, how to follow expectations, and how to respond to feedback.