Teaching Philosophy

The most significant lesson I have learned as a teacher is: how I teach is a continuous evolution of improvement.  Each semester, each lesson, each moment contributes to the transformation of the teacher.  I began teaching at North Carolina State University in 2013.  Over the next two and a half years, I attended nine teacher workshops, taught three courses, and completed a Certificate of Teaching program.  I gained skills in lesson planning and delivery according to educational paradigms such as Bloom's Taxonomy and Felder-Solomon learning styles.  The experiences at NC State were foundational.  In 2015, I began teaching at Bard College at Simon's Rock as an Assistant Professor.  As of Fall 2019, I have taught an additional fourteen courses, advised four independent projects, and advised one completed thesis, a year-long research project required of our college seniors.  Furthermore, I have academically advised over twenty students.  Beyond these numbers are experiences that cannot be quantified but have been instrumental in my evolution as a teacher.  My experiences and research in education can be summarized to three essential objectives.

First, I believe I should create a welcoming and inclusive environment.  In the classroom, I have found that students who feel safe ask questions and are willing to make mistakes; only in this position can students truly learn inside the classroom.  The syllabus is the first place to emphasize the classroom is a safe space.  Under class expectations, I normalize asking for extra help: "You are responsible for reaching out for extra help (there is no shame in extra help!)."  Then, I appeal to the students' desire to learn: "Your behavior will be respectful toward each other.  Proper classroom behavior creates an environment conducive to fun learning."  There is evidence I have successfully established a safe atmosphere: one student says in a student evaluation "Our instructor respected students a lot and listened to us"; another student claims `"she was warm, approachable and entertaining"; finally, a different student specifically describes "she created a safe space where I could feel comfortable learning."  

Second, I believe in the safe environment, students are more open to developing and building on their problem solving and critical thinking skills.  Given the variety of backgrounds students have, it is important for teachers of mathematics to consistently build these skills.  I do this by asking questions and having students directly examine their learning process.  There are the basic recall-questions to get students involved in discussion, like "What is the next step to this problem?" but there are the more advanced thought provoking questions, like "Why do you think that might be?" or "How can we apply this concept to the following problem?"  To expand on the questions asked, I will help students visualize concepts as much as possible because it is an important skill for students in order to solidify their understanding.  For example, in Statistics and Probability, I will draw the bivariate Normal distribution with the marginal and conditional distributions on top in different colors.  This helps students understand better the relationship between all three distributions.  To continue cultivating this critical thinking, I will often give students writing assignments, where they must either justify their thought process or write as if they are teaching me the concept.  This forces students to examine what they do and do not understand.  When asked what skills were acquired during a Calculus course I taught, a student said "I learned through the manuscripts how to effectively write about math."  This same student stated that "the tests and manuscripts gave the best opportunity to show my learning".  

While the first two objectives are specifically geared toward student improvement, I must also be willing to learn, practice, and improve my teaching strategy.  My current teaching position has forced me to rethink my approach to instruction every semester in order to meet the students where they are.  For example, when I first started teaching, I had a strict script for each lesson.  However, this did not allow for students to ask questions mid-lesson, nor did it allow engaging discussion on concepts and problems.  Now, I have more flexibility in my lessons so that class time can be a more natural interaction between myself and each group of students.  For several semesters of teaching Introduction to Statistics, I attempted to cram all textbook information into only 55 minute sessions 3 times per week.  Now, I require reading prior to class time, accompanied by a reading check assignment.  When students know they need to complete these assignments, they come better prepared for class time.  This allows me to be more efficient and develop deeper understanding of core concepts and processes.  

In addition to the reformation of my teaching practices, I have become a better teacher through my own personal growth.  Both inside and outside the classroom, I am an advocate for equity and inclusion both inside and outside STEM.  There is a pervasive myth within mathematics and other STEM disciplines that they are objective and without bias.  This is wrong, and I work to counter this perception.  Recently, I co-led a workshop on cultivating an inclusive culture in STEM classrooms, and it addressed this myth through real scenarios where bias is clearly displayed.  We worked as a group on confronting the bias.  In my own classroom, I have an equity and inclusion clause on my syllabus, which I stress to my students on the first day of class: "every person within the classroom will have their own distinct set of attributes.  Such diverse backgrounds will have an impact on each student's learning experience and the instructor's.  It is everyone's right to learn without discrimination and students are expected to treat each other with respect during in-class discussion as well as potential group work outside the classroom."  I then explain what a microaggression is and encourage students to reach out to the Bias Response Team on campus if they experience a microaggression inside my classroom (whether it be from me or another classmate).

In my experience, I have found that teaching does not only happen inside the classroom, it also occurs outside the classroom in the form of advising and mentoring students.  I have advised and mentored students in two roles: the academic advisor and the research advisor.  As an academic advisor, I have advised students on courses to take to fulfill graduation requirements and the transfer process.  I have done this for students who study mathematics, but I have also done this for students who study other disciplines, such as pre-medicine, environmental science, psychology, philosophy, and music.  Academic advising is a time investment in the student's success and retention.  The advisor-advisee relationship can often be a mentor-mentee relationship, where advice can be given for other areas of life experience.  I prefer to approach this relationship by centering the student in conversations, and validating and normalizing their feelings/experiences.  With this method of mentorship, I establish a safe space for the student but I am also learning how best to support the student.    

As a research advisor for long-term projects, I meet with students weekly.  In these meetings, I have students update me on progress.  This encourages better time management.  For students struggling more with productivity, I require them to present to me what they learned/observed/discovered during that week.  I do not push students in a "successful" direction; a huge lesson to learn when conducting research is that you may hit a dead end.  Students must learn to come to terms with the fact that research doesn't always lead to an "original" result and it is okay to start over.  When students explicitly ask for advice on a direction to take or for ideas, I highlight at least two possibilities for next steps so that the student can have some autonomy to choose.  With this method of mentorship, I am assisting the student in building the problem solving and critical thinking skills in the context of research.  

One student did two independent projects and a thesis (a one-year mandatory research project for our seniors) under my guidance.  In the summer of 2019, she interned with the Human Rights Campaign as part of their data analysis team, and she was hired into a position conducting institutional research at a university following graduation.

In the years I have been an educator of mathematics, I have built upon old skills and gained new ones.  As a rising senior faculty member, I am proud of what I have been able to do and I look forward to continued growth and the differences I will make in students' education.