Teaching

Teaching Experience

• • Instructor: 

    • Health & Society - Sociology 400-level and 200-level undergraduate medical sociology course

    • Dynamics of Population - Sociology 400-level undergraduate demography course

    • Social Inequality - Sociology 200-level undergraduate social stratification/inequality survey course

    • Interdisciplinary Social Inequality & Health - Interdisciplinary Social Science program 200-level undergraduate survey of social aspects of health course

    • Quantitative Methods in Social Science - Sociology 200-level and 300-level undergraduate social statistics requirement

    • Graduate Independent Study in Social Networks & Health

• • Other (Teaching Assistant, Lecturer, Graduate Advisor): 

    • Social Networks & Health Scholars Training Program (with the Duke Network Analysis Center)

    • Co-developer and leader of a Data Expedition class introducing coding in an upper-level sociology course

    • Sociological Theory

    • Technology & Organizational Environments

    • Sociology of Mental Health

    • University Scholars Education Inequality Service-learning House Course

Other Courses I am Able to Teach

• • Undergraduate: Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Research Methods, Social Theory, Social Problems, Social Networks, Sociology of Mental Health

  • Graduate: Sociological Theory, Research Methods, Quantitative Methods, Social Network Analysis (theory, introductory, and methods), Demography, Topics courses in Social Networks, Health/Medical Sociology, Gender and Health, Life Course

Teaching Philosophy

As a social networks scholar, I recognize the importance of connections in the sociology classroom, especially students’ connections to course material and to each other. As an instructor, I build these connections by designing active, collaborative classes where students use technology to engage with course material in ways that connect to lived experience and sociological principles. Below I detail how I implement these teaching principles in one course I've designed and taught, Social Inequality:

Designing and teaching the Social Inequality course in particular let me build on my pre-PhD professional life as a high school teacher to create and implement a course centered on active learning through collaboration, meaningful use of technology, and critically examining challenging social themes.

In this course, students engaged with material and classmates so that each student would think, read, write, and speak in every class. Through a variety of activities, discussions, and writing prompts supported by short lectures, students examined classic and contemporary sociological works and data to apply a sociological lens to issues of inequality. For example, students analyzed how their social networks are shaped by race and gender, and they used online resources like Spent, to dive deeper into investigating inequality. Students demonstrated their learning in various ways throughout the course, providing support for diverse learning styles, allowing frequent on-going assessment of learning, and scaffolding toward larger summative assessments. For example, students led group discussions with a jigsaw-style activity on trends in wealth, and completed 1-slide mini presentations using data about the gender wage gap. Activities were followed by reflective writing and class discussion connecting to readings and broader theory, so that sociological depth was not sacrificed in favor of collaboration. Students demonstrated their skills and knowledge in a final presentation where small groups investigated an aspect of inequality not covered in class, connecting their topic to sociological theory, data, journal articles, and wider policy implications. These online resources and collaborative activities helped students develop 21st century career skills so that the course didn’t function solely to provide information, but rather to guide students toward interacting with information, from finding reliable sources, interpreting data, and communicating findings, to questioning conclusions, synthesizing material, and discussing implications. This active and collaborative classroom environment supported student learning, with student surveys reflecting strong agreement with high and very high course quality, learning, and instruction.

 The collaborative nature of the class meant students worked with others throughout the semester to synthesize ideas and resources into cohesive products, but discussing class, race, and gender in a diverse classroom was not automatically easy. As students shared their ideas, experiences, and efforts every day, the class developed space for dialogue that challenged or questioned ideas at hand while respecting all voices. For example, students presented their own updated versions of the invisible privileges associated with race from their observations of colorblind racism on campus and explored disadvantages faced by combined axes of identity using a dice activity to randomly select identities to consider intersectionality in small groups. Course surveys indicate students recognized this positive class dynamic and felt respected.

As a mentor, I believe in individualized support rooted in collaboration and structures that support routine communication. I've supported four PhD graduate students as a committee member and many undergraduates completing Honors Projects. I've co-authored published research and conference presentations with graduate students, conducted teaching observations to provide feedback, and mentored students to complete graduate program milestones, including completing MA theses, comprehensive exams, and dissertations.