In the classroom

I have had this website since grad school, but until very recently, it has mainly been to showcase my research. I add this page now to showcase a part of my professional work that has been growing and that I am as excited to share as any of the publications on the other pages.

I have been extremely lucky to teach psychology here at Grinnell College since 2013. You'd never know it from the somewhat-comic image of professors at top-tier research universities who seem to see teaching as a millstone around their neck and who would rather be in the lab, but I find teaching the students here extremely exciting. The classrooms at Grinnell College can be just as much laboratories for discovery and exploration as any lab I ask for, and Grinnell College has been wonderfully supportive for my attempts to push the boundaries of what I thought teaching could be like--that support comes as much from the administration at the top levels as it does from the Science Division and the Psych Department. Don't get me wrong, I love to do research, and as you can see for yourself, I am very keen to support Grinnell College's initiative to get students involved in research.

BUT this is a great place to work with students in the classroom, and I wanted to showcase that here, with student input because you shouldn't have to just take my word for it. I have valued student input as a key mechanism for improving my teaching.

"What? Damian, do you think you're all that and a bag of teaching potato chips?"

No. In fact, the idea of improving my teaching leads me to an important DISCLAIMER: I am one of Grinnell College's youngest teachers, so anything positive I have to report below, you can say much more and much better about many of the more experienced instructors here. So, I hope to only get better with experience and have much to learn. I hope that this page is a helpful set of notes for anyone wondering what it might be like to take a class at Grinnell College or maybe even with me in particular.

There's a lot here because I think about teaching a LOT. Just click below links for what you'd like to know more about--look out for where I have included student input about...

...my general approach to teaching (as developed through Intro Psych; College Catalog listing) (with student comments in quotes)

...my teaching of Research Methods, a gateway course in the Psychology Major (College Catalog listing) (with student comments in quotes)

...my class in Sensation & Perception, a field-specific class at the 200-level (College Catalog listing) (with student comments in quotes)

...my class in Longitudinal & Time Series Analysis, a field-specific class at 300-level (with student comments in quotes)