Teaching Philosophy

My teaching revolves around three beliefs.  First, I believe that students must actively participate to learn.  Second, I believe that students will actively participate when they feel it is ‘safe’ to do so, and perceive that the instructor is interested in them, their learning, and the topic.  Third, I believe that learning must be challenging, but fun.  My primary goal is to provide a classroom environment where even the most reticent students participate in some manner and wrong answers are seen as learning opportunities.  To do this, I rely on active learning techniques, critical thinking exercises, and cooperative learning groups. 

There is a significant body of research that supports the importance of active participation in the learning process. My class notes are "fill-in-the-blank" so that students can not passively listen to me or simply print my notes and avoid the class all together. I rely heavily on in-class activities that provide opportunities for students to apply what we have been discussing.  For some portion of nearly every class, students work individually, in pairs, or in groups to work through a problem.  I particularly like to use cooperative learning groups that make the students responsible for each other's learning.  They often find, as I have, that when we have to teach something to others is when we truly learn it.  I am also very diligent about providing multiple avenues for participation.  I rely on electronic mail, listservs, and small group activities to elicit participation from the less out-going students.  My goal is to provide a non-threatening environment in which all students actively engage the material.  

To encourage participation and help students feel ‘safe’, I try to create a non-threatening environment in which I get to know the students on an individual basis.  Some students are happy to take risks and talk in class, while others sit quietly hoping I won't ever say their names.  As a teacher, it is important to me that I build relationships with my students.  I take pictures of the students and try to learn their names as quickly as I can.  I have found that when I get to know something about the students, they react to me as a person, open up to my ideas, and actually learn more in my classes.  As they get to know me, they realize that I am most excited when they "get it."  I honestly don't think there is anything more gratifying in the classroom than when a struggling student finally sees the light!  I care that they learn the material, and I believe my students know that.  In addition, I think many of my students want to learn because they see how excited I am about their learning and about the topic - excitement breeds excitement (or at least interest).

To foster excitement, I aim for challenging and fun; it's not always easy to have both.  I do have a reputation for being a hard grader and for expecting a lot from my students.  To me, that is good, because it means that many of the students will rise to my expectations.  To balance this out, however, I constantly stress the importance and value of wrong answers in the classroom.  I try to make students feel at ease when they attempt to answer a question, and mention how helpful that wrong answer was to everyone else in the class, by pointing out the learning as well as the fact that others were thinking the same thing.  I also offer ‘anonymous’ opportunities for students to go the board with their answers, and encourage them to leave their mistakes out there for everyone to see…and learn from.  Finally, I try to use as many different techniques as possible, in hopes of capturing everyone’s interest.

I have incorporated a number of active learning and group exercises into the course.  I have increased the number of in-class active learning exercises, added cooperative learning exercises, used crossword puzzles to review concepts, and modified a jeopardy game to use as a tool to engage students in reviews of course material.  I have received very positive feedback about these activities.  The active learning exercises provide opportunities for the students to apply the material they have read (and we have discussed).  The cooperative learning group exercises are used to review particularly difficult material - and are always given rave reviews!  The students are formed in groups, given an assignment (for which they can receive a certain number of homework points), and told that everyone in the group must understand the answer.  When they are ready to answer, I go to the group and select the "explainer" - if the person can explain the answer, the whole group gets the points - if not, I go away while the group teaches this person the concept they have missed.  The crossword puzzles help students to learn the important terminology of the course, while the jeopardy game is used to review for the final exam.  The game highlights the main topics and provides a way for the students to check their own learning.  Finally, I use a semester-long project that provides an opportunity for students to apply their newly-learned knowledge and integrate it in order to understand the bigger picture.  There are not very many good projects of this sort in existence, so I have had to modify and write my own for use in this course.  These projects are extremely important for the students because they help them move away from thinking about the course in terms of chapters and move toward an understanding of the big picture, i.e., how this works in the real world.