Teaching Philosophy
I have years of experience teaching middle school, high school, undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty across various institution types, including community-college and R1 settings. At each of these places, I have taught asynchronously online, synchronously online, hybrid (online and in-person), and in-person. All of these experiences, and my constant reflection on my practices, have informed my teaching in a variety of ways: (1) structuring my classroom, assignments, and content around critical pedagogy and intersectional feminism; (2) fostering a classroom where students can collaborate and engage with rhetorical situations authentically and practically; and (3) designing my course with care-based practices at the center.
I believe in education as liberatory practice and draw on critical pedagogy and an intersectional worldview. Learners are not vessels waiting to be filled with my knowledge, but instead individuals who are already knowledgeable. Using works from a diverse group of artists, writers and scholars, we examine how systems overlap and fold to oppress many. For instance, in my “Rhetoric and Writing” first-year class, my theme was disruption and students examined how we may transform systems. One project students did was a multimodal archive project where students first researched in the university’s archives and then found artifacts to disrupt the traditional campus narratives they knew. Students created multimodal projects showcasing that disruption, including, for example, a video interview project of past and present students, art schematics for new memorials and statues on campus to honor other stories, and an album of alternative history narratives and songs. Many took those projects to their senior portfolios years later, which demonstrates my commitment to also make learning authentic to students’ lives and the world around them.
With learners’ lives being extremely interconnected to the world beyond higher education, I want learning environments to foster rhetorical situations that are authentic and practical to them. I value the process of teaching for transfer where learners can adapt and apply information to their own contexts. When I interact with any learner (regardless if it’s a writing center consultation to a workshop to my classroom), I question, “How can they use this beyond this learning environment?.” With this question always in mind, learners are asked to engage with materials and how they connect to their own lives. For instance, while designing Writing Center, interdisciplinary workshops for graduate students about navigating graduate school, learners are asked to connect the content to their own lives. In the workshop facilitation, I would overview the concepts of mentoring maps, writing processes for theses and dissertations, and time management strategies. For mentoring maps, I overview the terms and then each person would examine their own personal relationships and fill it in. For the writing processes, I discuss different frameworks to writing and then host a discussion on the reiterative and diverse nature of writing before asking learners to create their own interactive and tactile maps of their own individual process. Finally, in the time management section, we collaborative discuss and practice using diverse tools before learners find strategies that will work for their needs and contexts moving forward.
In addition, I also engage learning environments of care, empathy, and trauma-informed pedagogy, as these learners have lives that are deeply connected and consequential outside of their learning environments. I engage these care-based principles by placing a high priority on forming and maintaining connections with others. I am committed to making learning environments transparent, equity-based, and empathetic. I strive to make the learning environments a braver, more empathetic space for all through care, authentic rhetorical situations, and critical pedagogy.
I believe in education as liberatory practice and draw on critical pedagogy and an intersectional worldview. Learners are not vessels waiting to be filled with my knowledge, but instead individuals who are already knowledgeable. Using works from a diverse group of artists, writers and scholars, we examine how systems overlap and fold to oppress many. For instance, in my “Rhetoric and Writing” first-year class, my theme was disruption and students examined how we may transform systems. One project students did was a multimodal archive project where students first researched in the university’s archives and then found artifacts to disrupt the traditional campus narratives they knew. Students created multimodal projects showcasing that disruption, including, for example, a video interview project of past and present students, art schematics for new memorials and statues on campus to honor other stories, and an album of alternative history narratives and songs. Many took those projects to their senior portfolios years later, which demonstrates my commitment to also make learning authentic to students’ lives and the world around them.
With learners’ lives being extremely interconnected to the world beyond higher education, I want learning environments to foster rhetorical situations that are authentic and practical to them. I value the process of teaching for transfer where learners can adapt and apply information to their own contexts. When I interact with any learner (regardless if it’s a writing center consultation to a workshop to my classroom), I question, “How can they use this beyond this learning environment?.” With this question always in mind, learners are asked to engage with materials and how they connect to their own lives. For instance, while designing Writing Center, interdisciplinary workshops for graduate students about navigating graduate school, learners are asked to connect the content to their own lives. In the workshop facilitation, I would overview the concepts of mentoring maps, writing processes for theses and dissertations, and time management strategies. For mentoring maps, I overview the terms and then each person would examine their own personal relationships and fill it in. For the writing processes, I discuss different frameworks to writing and then host a discussion on the reiterative and diverse nature of writing before asking learners to create their own interactive and tactile maps of their own individual process. Finally, in the time management section, we collaborative discuss and practice using diverse tools before learners find strategies that will work for their needs and contexts moving forward.
In addition, I also engage learning environments of care, empathy, and trauma-informed pedagogy, as these learners have lives that are deeply connected and consequential outside of their learning environments. I engage these care-based principles by placing a high priority on forming and maintaining connections with others. I am committed to making learning environments transparent, equity-based, and empathetic. I strive to make the learning environments a braver, more empathetic space for all through care, authentic rhetorical situations, and critical pedagogy.
