“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else’” – Toni Morrison
“the dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.” – Dan Rather
As a teacher-scholar, the most satisfying experiences in the classroom have revolved around the powerful impression that, in the midst of a discussion or lecture, it is possible to see the world differently. Though these episodes may not happen every day, I approach my teaching (as well as my learning and my research) from the perspective that each class period holds the potential for something incredible – those challenging and invigorating moments where anything seems possible. I am a teacher at heart, but, as I have learned over the years, teaching is rarely an easy task. Each semester, each class, brings new challenges and hopes for possibility and improvement.
There is something refreshing and stimulating about facilitating learning. I see great potential in every student and nothing is more powerful than making an intellectual connection with someone who wants to learn. For me, teaching is about continuously identifying new ways to be effective in the lives of those I teach and being open to the countless ways those I teach affect me. This takes on many forms from keeping up on my own research and investment in the field, reading new pedagogical writings and/or personal experiences from other teachers, learning new teaching techniques or technology, among others.
Much of what I have found through my years of teaching in higher education is that students often struggle with both academic reading and academic writing. Since many of my courses have been writing intensive courses, I try to use a variety of methods including work with writing centers, providing both class time as well as online resources for students to work through things like writing a thesis or proper citations, among others. I also try to help student hone their critical thinking skills and their academic reading skills by providing the history and context of what they are reading and, on occasion, providing “how to read” guides.
I am an advocate for active learning. For me a classroom is a place to take risks, to challenge ourselves and others, and to try to envision new understandings and new ways of thinking. In both my physical and virtual classrooms I encourage and challenge students to cross boundaries – both intellectual and spatial. I challenge my students to not only talk to me, but to learn how to talk to each other in a respectful and stimulating manner. Because I typically teach topics that can make students feel nervous or uncomfortable (courses on diversity, discrimination, sexism, etc.), I encourage students to disrupt their own understandings of bigger issues such as race, gender, oppression, justice, equality, among others, in an attempt to make them comfortable with challenging their own, and others’, perspectives.
This is a particularly important aspect of my teaching. For example, in my classes where I teach about sex, gender and inequality (i.e. Sex, Gender & Sexuality, Introduction to Women’s Studies, Violence Against Women, Contemporary Feminist Theory, etc.) we discuss issues such as sex trafficking, sexual violence, victimization, sexuality, as well as inequality and many other similar issues. Students often have very strong viewpoints coming into these discussions and are often hesitant to challenge their own ideas and assumptions. Each semester I attempt to create a classroom that encourages questioning, challenging, critical thinking and critical engagement. My teaching is student-centered and I attempt to create environments of individualized learning wherever possible. I encourage students to debate and interrogate issues from multiple perspectives. For example, an assignment I usually use in class is to have my students engage in a debate where they have to take the opposite side of the issue than what they actually believe. This encourages students to not only learn how to challenge their own ideas and opinions, but to be able to learn about and learn from the opposite side. This has proved to be particularly important as our broader society becomes increasingly polarized.
I try to create an environment where students feel comfortable expressing themselves. This is often one of the most difficult parts of teaching because it is a balancing act between allowing students freedom to express themselves and also making sure that the classroom is as safe a space as I can provide. I have found that the best way to do this is to allow students a forum in which to ask questions and challenge themselves and their classmates. I structure the classroom in a way that these questions and challenges have to connect to the readings and literature/material we have covered. So, while students are free to express their own personal beliefs and experiences, they must situate them within the material. This has proven beneficial in that students tend to interrogate the material, rather than each other. I also encourage students to utilize their sociological imagination (Mills, 1959) and learn that there are both individual and structural problems and solutions and often, when they are stuck in individual troubles, they neglect to see structural issues and forces.
I realize that students learn differently and have different ways of both absorbing information and demonstrating knowledge. I utilize a variety of teaching methods and scholarly teaching to reflect this. I engage students in multiple learning styles in order to provide the most effective learning and teaching environment including inquiry-based and direct instruction, and I, along with my student, use methods such as explaining, questioning, demonstrating, collaborating, and experimenting. For instance, I integrate lecture style discussions with visual aids, including pictures, power points, and videos, and other multi-media. I particularly like using film and other media in order to engage with students on issues that are relevant to them. Often I use film worksheets that have students keep track of what they are learning in the film while juxtaposing it with specific course material from class. Pop culture references can be important tools in undergraduate classrooms because they can often get students engaged in the conversation in a way they may not have otherwise. One assignment that was particularly fun was having students use their final project to create a “Feminist Mixed Tape”. Students were able to use their love of music and pop culture to critically address issues previously raised in class. I also use multiple formats such as online discussion boards, blogs, and in class discussion to encourage students to interact with the material we are learning. Additionally, in my blended learning classes I utilize the flipped classroom method and push students to engage both online and in the classroom.
I believe in a Freireian (1970) approach to education and seek to create an environment that emphasizes collaboration, teamwork, dialogue and communication. I believe my job is not to instill or deposit knowledge into my students, but rather, to help guide them through their own intellectual journey, sometimes filling in the holes along the way. In this way, I adapt the philosopher Eli Siegel’s (1973) idea that the purpose of “education is to like the world through knowing it”.
Because I teach in multiple formats including in class and online, I am able to interact with a variety of students who are approaching education and learning from a variety of perspectives. I try to make my online classes as interactive and inspiring as I do my in-person classes by holding virtual office hours, using Skype and Vimeo, and by encouraging students to interact with each other in the same ways they would in a traditional classroom. I am devoted to diversity both in terms of my teaching, but also my students. I recognize that students come from diverse backgrounds and therefore I emphasize diversity in experience, diversity in thought and diversity in platform.
As can be seen from my teaching evaluation, though my classes are challenging, my students continue to be inspired and encouraged. Students frequently take more than one class with me because they enjoy my teaching style and passion for teaching.
Ultimately, I believe my role as a teacher involves flexibility and improvisation, being the referee who ensures an even landscape for student engagement, tour-guide for understanding the context of historical circumstances, and mentoring knowledge seeking.
References:
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury.
Mills, C.W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
Siegel, E. (1973). Aesthetic Realism in Education. The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known: A Periodical of Hope and Information. 12.
