Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy
contains four main elements: critical thinking, agency, social justice, and
curiosity. My main goal as a teacher is to weave all four of these elements
together to create a cohesive well-rounded learning experience for my students.
I do this in several ways; first, I focus not only on clearly teaching theories
and findings, but also on demonstrating how to be a critical thinker. I demonstrate critical thinking by
encouraging students to examine research in a systematic and critical light
through their writing and discussions. For
every “fact” that we discuss I ask my students how and why the authors can make
these claims. I find that developing
students’ critical thinking skills helps foster the second element of my
teaching philosophy: agency. These two
goals often overlap because when students’ learn to apply a critical lens in
varying situations they become active agents in their own education, rather
than passive learners.
Building off of my philosophy of agency is my commitment to incorporating social justice in my courses. At Saint Mary’s College I have had the opportunity to teach a wide range of students for whom topics of identity are often taboo or unexplored. Because Saint Mary’s is a women’s college, I have been able to relate issues of gender to larger issues of culture, justice, and equality. This technique helps build a bridge between students’ experiences with those of people from diverse backgrounds so that they can see connections that they may not have thought about previously.
The fourth component of my teaching philosophy is cultivating a genuine interest and a sincere sense of curiosity amongst my students. I find my teaching most rewarding when students make a personal, solid connection between the class and their own interests, and tell me that they could not stop thinking about the readings and discussion from a previous class session.
Building off of my philosophy of agency is my commitment to incorporating social justice in my courses. At Saint Mary’s College I have had the opportunity to teach a wide range of students for whom topics of identity are often taboo or unexplored. Because Saint Mary’s is a women’s college, I have been able to relate issues of gender to larger issues of culture, justice, and equality. This technique helps build a bridge between students’ experiences with those of people from diverse backgrounds so that they can see connections that they may not have thought about previously.
The fourth component of my teaching philosophy is cultivating a genuine interest and a sincere sense of curiosity amongst my students. I find my teaching most rewarding when students make a personal, solid connection between the class and their own interests, and tell me that they could not stop thinking about the readings and discussion from a previous class session.
Teaching Interests
At Saint Mary's College, I regularly teach:
At The New School I taught:
(Cross-Cultural Psychology, China, 2010)
- Introduction to Psychology
- Cultural Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Research Methods
- Stereotyping & Prejudice (counts toward the minor in Gender & Women’s Studies, Intercultural Studies, and Global Studies)
- Psychology of Violence (counts toward the minor in Gender & Women’s Studies, and Justice Education)
- Quantitative Senior Seminar
At The New School I taught:
- Social Psychology of Gender Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination.
- Social Cognition
- Fundamentals in Social Psychology
(Cross-Cultural Psychology, China, 2010)