Teaching Philosophy 

Educational Aspirations, Goals, Objectives:

As an educator, I aspire to create an environment that fosters inclusivity and encourages competency, respectful discourse, and critical thinking. In the process, my goal is for my students to gain an appreciation and excitement toward the field of Political Science. I do so by creating an open and accessible classroom, implementing discussion based pedagogy, appropriate use of simulation based learning, emphasis on student growth and low risk checks on learning. 

Belief on Making the Classroom and Educational Materials Accessible 

My approach to education is a student-centered, mentor first approach. Meaning, I strive to place students at the center of the learning process, allow them to be active participants, as well as provide mentorship that allows students to see their potential even if the environment is potentially obscuring it. Problematically, academia as an institution is prone to favor those that have generational and environmental resources to help them be successful in the learning process. As such, those that come from first generation, low-income, or from groups that are historically underrepresented in education often face unique challenges and barriers to educational attainment that their more traditional peers do not. This can be especially true in the community college setting where the majority of the students could come from these types of backgrounds. As such, I believe it’s the role of educators to be active participants in dismantling student barriers to education by making the classroom and educational materials accessible whenever capable to do so. This includes using resources that are affordable with easily accessible options. Before assigning any textbook, I think it’s important to check and see if there are any open source options available and if it’s unavoidable that they buy the text, I make every attempt to choose quality, but affordable textbook options. 

Discussion Based Pedagogy: 

The basic foundational structure of my classroom instruction is in the following format: lecture, discussion, then check on learning. As such, lecture is a means of transmitting those fundamentals, but discussion is where the information comes to life. 

Once the foundation has been laid, I utilize a discussion based approach where students are introduced to a critical based set of questions, an introduction to a problem through which the students are then capable of using the prior lecture material to discuss and engage deeper. I believe that in the classroom environment, everyone should feel comfortable expressing their ideas, but also share equally in the process. Therefore, I feel that it’s important that we engage in a “democratization” of the classroom experience. Meaning, that while the classroom inherently has a hierarchical structure in terms of traditional student/teacher paradigms, their role as a student isn’t passive. Instead, through using a discussion based approach where everyone’s voices are heard, their experiences and perspective are valued parts of the process. For example, when discussing the judiciary, students may be posed the following question: “The Senate Judiciary Committee is a key point of interaction between the Supreme Court and Congress. In what ways does this process affect who sits on the court and is this a good process? If not, why?” The point of the question is to get them to think about the process of judicial nomination, such as the Senate nomination process, but also allows them to think critically about the process. 

The Use of Games & Simulations in the Classroom: 

In the educational landscape, it’s important that we’re capable of engaging students beyond simply checking a box. Therefore, I find that it is sometimes useful to engage with the subject’s materials through non-traditional approaches. Much like my pedagogical use of discussion based learning, I also see the value of utilizing games and simulation based learning strategies whenever appropriate. For Example, a simulation could have students assume the role of an elected official where 2 they receive information regarding a proposed piece of legislation such as polling, interest group data, and new reports. Based on the information at hand and the randomly generated set of characteristics for the elected official they were assigned, students will make real time decisions to try and affect the legislative process. After the simulation, students would then be tasked with a brief discussion about the outcome of the activity as well as a subsequent reflective essay. This process serves to not only break the monotony of lecture based learning, but also allows students to empathize with those in the process and in doing so fosters information retention through real time content application. In essence, role playing via simulations can be a powerful tool if implemented appropriately in the classroom.