Overview
My student-centric teaching philosophy, which I have employed throughout my academic career, is comprised of two fundamental responsibilities. First, I am responsible for developing awareness and understanding of course material that is beyond what a student brings on the first day of class. Having had the pleasure of teaching several different core courses, I regularly rework my course to develop one that is engaging and challenging for students. My approach towards this end is to identify points of relevancy between course material and the lives and career aspirations of my students. By utilizing techniques designed to elicit the personal and professional interests of my students, I create course lectures, activities and examples that directly connect new course concepts with students’ interests. As a result, students are more engaged with course material and actively participate in class discussions.
Second, my teaching philosophy requires that I utilize instructional techniques that develop and hone critical skills to facilitate academic and professional success beyond my classroom. The collegiate experience is not only the instruction of academic concepts; it also serves as an introduction to and development of essential professional skills. As my academic career reveals, leadership, problem solving, critical thinking and competent writing are skills students develop through my strategically designed course activities and assessments.