Teaching PhilosophyI believe that to be a teacher is to be in an inherently unequal relationship with ones students. But that relationship can be and should be mitigated by other classroom dynamics. I try to foster a classroom where honesty, openness, and personal identities are used to help construct an environment with a focus on learning from each other, where knowledge is mostly co-constructed

I believe the classrooms that are most conducive to learning are those with an environment that feels open, safe, and nonjudgmental. It is my goal to facilitate the creation of such an environment. This is reflected in my no-tolerance policy for sexism, racism, homophobia, and other isms. This may seem contradictory to my viewpoint that students should be able to openly speak their minds but I think it is necessary in order to keep the integrity of a positive classroom environment. The classroom should be critical and participatory, interactive and interesting for the students so they retain the knowledge that they are helping to construct through their participation. The classroom should provoke critical thought and commentary without being hurtful to the people in the room.

I believe that students learn through a variety of styles including listening, talking, visualizing, and hands-on activities. I use all of these forms of engagement in the classroom: my typical format is part lecture, a lot of discussion opportunities, visual aids such as movie clips, and in-class activities. I feel that if I hold the expectation that students should learn from being in my class (which I do) than I am responsible for trying to provide them with the resources they need. These include teaching in ways that enable students to learn, fostering active learning. Students have opportunities to relate the sociological concepts to their own personal experiences and knowledges through discussion and assignments and in doing so are able to develop their sociological imaginations. One example of an assignment that gives students this opportunity is Autoethnography which I assigned when I taught Intersections of Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality; this assignment gave them students the opportunity to analyze their positions and statuses and how those reflect social context. I believe that one of the best ways to engage students to learn is to give them a stake in the educational process. I try to foster that feeling by enabling the students to co-create the knowledge they are learning. I want them to bring their personal experience and knowledge to the classroom and give their peers the benefits of that knowledge and experience. Part of being honest and open in the classroom is acknowledging that I do not know everything and that their experiences are a critical part of learning. Giving students a stake in their own education is one of the reasons I make an effort to focus on problems and topics of interest of them.

I believe education needs to move beyond the consumer mentality that is wreaking havoc on it. I believe that the educational process needs to include critical thought and questioning of what we think we know. In my classes, I attempt to move beyond what Paulo Freire (1970) called the banking model of education. I do not want my students parroting what I tell them. I want to help them develop critical thinking skills so even if they are out of my class, they can still use that skill (and the others) to analyze their society, social milieu, and institutional and organizational settings. I expect students to be proactive and responsible for their education and what they do with it.

References: Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.