By sharing a course with me, students hopefully sense the love I have for my work. With a convivial and compassionate yet firm and forthright teaching style, I hope to reach the most reluctant of students. My lively and commanding presence in the classroom has shown students that bringing energy, focus, and passion to one’s life’s work can be an essential element of living “the good life.” Beyond that, I attempt to model for students a spirited pursuit of expertise in whatever they endeavor professionally. Even so, they must understand that expertise doesn’t mean always having all the answers; instead, it means knowing yourself and your place within a professional field or discipline: knowing what you know, what you don’t know, what questions you need to ask, and how to be humble enough to ask them. There is no shame in not knowing, only shame in being content not to know.

Through assiduous attention paid to skill and knowledge development, I propel learners to take what they acquire in classrooms and become autodidactically driven to evolve into a person they do not even know yet, a person in whom they will most certainly take pride. To become that person; however, students need the support of a community they trust. Collaboration and empathy must be at the center of their moral and intellectual development; indeed, it is through these central values that we build our ability to use language more effectively by connecting with others in respectful, rational, personal, and visceral ways. Ultimately, students should see quite clearly that working together to make greater sense of the world, its interconnectedness, and our ability to discuss its infinite concepts and challenges makes life more exciting and us more appreciative of it.