My journey as a teacher began when I was an undergraduate, sitting in environmental studies classes that helped me to understand my place in the world. I did not have the vocabulary for it at the time, but I was developing a sociological imagination. My teachers, a number of whom were sociologists, were doing public sociology.

Now, I work to create similar learning experiences for my students. As a graduate teaching assistant at Cornell, I was fortunate to be trained in active learning pedagogy thanks to funding that my department had received from the Active Learning Initiative. In my very first semester of teaching (Spring 2019), the team I was a part of worked to transform how a large lecture class was taught, with the goal of making students more actively engaged in their learning. My fellow TAs and I took turns designing activities for our sections: a simulation game on Google Forms to illustrate the role that social capital plays in shaping inequality, an exercise where students had to sort different occupations into class categories to illustrate concepts of social class, and more.

That experience left a lasting impact on the way I teach. In my teaching, I prioritise:

1. Relationship-building: We all learn in relationship with one another. And students want to feel seen. So, I try get to know my students and what brings them to my courses. I engage in conversation with them throughout the semester, through classroom discussions, online discussion forums, and formative feedback on their assignments. I value assignments like research papers that allow them room to pursue questions that matter to them; through these, I get to learn more about what motivates them. I also try and foster community in the classroom by creating many opportunities for students to talk to one another.

2. Active learning: I make students turn on their brains in class. If I see eyes glazing over, this is a signal to me that I need to stop talking and check for understanding. My classes are peppered with learning activities that make students do some work. Sometimes, these activities require them to get up and move around. Of course, the challenge of involving students actively is needing to also maintain structure, something I am still working to get better at.

3. Scaffolding: Students come to class with different levels of preparation. During my first semester as a TA, a student came to my office hours asking me for guidance on how to read an article. My subsequent experiences have likewise shown me that reading academic articles is a skill that needs to be taught. For this reason, I dedicate one class session to talking about reading at the beginning of each semester. I also pay extra attention to students who struggle with other foundational skills, especially writing.

At SMU, I teach Sociology of Education and our introductory sociology course, Understanding Societies.

I draw inspiration and support from the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, the Chronicle of Higher Education's Teaching newsletter, and the SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence.