Professional Philosophy

Equity, Inclusion, & Justice

Growing up as a straight white male in Southern California, with two successful bankers for parents, provided me with an immense privilege that I knew nothing about until I moved to Charlotte, NC for college. I left the Orange Bubble and started educating myself both in and outside the classroom. Working with line cooks, bouncers, waiters, as well as undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in the South brought me face-to-face with the reality that I need to listen more.

I've grown as a person by learning to listen and empathize with those around me whether they are my neighbors, colleagues, or community members. Equity and inclusion is more than paying lip service to superficial calls for 'diversity' that don't challenge the systemic nature of inequality and exclusion. Inclusion is an active process that requires constant cycles of education, dialogue, and reflection. These are complicated issues that offer no simple solutions, meaning that bringing equitable inclusion and justice for the most marginalized populations is a case-by-case process. Texts like 'How to be Antiracist' by Ibram X. Kendi and 'The Beautiful Struggle' by Ta-Nehisi Coates provide some details on how I can use my privilege to fight for others, but this is a life long struggle that requires constant participation. I will do my best to fight for a more equitable, inclusive, and just world for all.

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Goals & Learning Environment

In every lecture that I give my goal is for student to :

• apply what I teach them to their prospective career paths

• learn to value critical thinking throughout their professional and personal lives

• communicate clearly with their peers as well as professionals

I believe it is important to design the learning environment in a way that facilitates these teaching goals. Educating during the COVID-19 pandemic, has changed the way that I think about ideal learning environments. Specifically, I think that my job requires me to be transparent, vulnerable, and flexible with my students. That means that I learn what works best for my students from my students. Whether designing asynchronous activities or synchronous lectures, it is important for me as an educator to develop multiple opportunities for feedback that cater to quiet and shy students just as much as those that are confident and outspoken. I want to use my learning environment to get to know my students so that I can reflect on if my lesson plans are meeting their needs.

Teaching Methods

I've relied on a number of methods in the past. Since the pandemic I have started thinking more about asynchronous (a) versus synchronous (s) methods. These methods are some of the ones that I have used most frequently, but I'm always interested in learning more.

Small Discussions (a/s)

During the course of my BA and MA programs small discussion groups were commonplace. Obviously this is easier to achieve in small liberal arts schools, but I think that they can be integrated in large state universities as well. Small discussion groups are crucial tools because students have the opportunity to collaborate with one another to understand their opinions about course materials. Small group discussions give students opportunities to communicate their ideas before the lectures, meaning they have an active role in shaping their education experience. Small discussion groups can be easily scheduled for both a/synchronous courses and will be a core part of either. Face-to-face classes require students to be placed into groups of 3-5, online classes require students to be organized into groups and use discussion boards to facilitate conversations.

Lecture (a/s)

Lecturing is the backbone of educating and there are a hundreds of strategies for doing it. I've had professors that lecture the entire class period without allowing students to ask questions, I've also had professors that prefer to let student interactions direct the content of the lecture. Both styles have their pros and cons but I prefer a hybrid- I want students to discuss course materials in groups before beginning the lectures. I think that student group discussions before the lectures promote greater agency in the students and allow them to engage with the material (at least) twice before listening to the lecture. This means that lectures are a chance to fill in the gaps of their understanding, not the end-all-be-all of their learning experience. I think this hybrid approach works well for both a/synchronous learning because lectures either occur live in face-to-face or streaming formats, or recorded for asynchronous courses.

Critical Thinking Essays (a)

I could not stand busy work as a student; as an educator it's clear that students feel the same. Rather than waisting their time with assignments that encourage them to regurgitate information, I want their writing assignments to encourage them to engage critically with the course material. At this point in my course, the students (ideally) will have read the material before class, engaged with their discussion groups, participated in the lecture, and finally interrogate their opinions and ideas about the course material through critical reflection assignments. To clarify- these aren't going to be 'write 5 pages about ___' type of assignments, but 'tell me what this knowledge means to you' type of assignments. These assignments will be part of the regularly scheduled course assignments and can be easily integrated into face-to-face as well as online courses.

Student Evaluations

"Brandon was a great lab instructor. He made class fun while he taught us a lot about the subject. His feedback on assignments was fair and informative." -- Alyssa N., University of Oregon, Summer '19

"Was very experienced with the subject matter, and made sure we stayed engaged" -- Anonymous, University of Oregon, Winter '19

"Brandon is great at explaining what needs to get done in order to get the grades we desire. Very helpful having him as an instructor." -- Drew V., University of Oregon, Winter '19

"Very easily approachable and did a good job helping use develop skills with the equipment. Cleared up questions regarding assignments and made requirements transparent" Anonymous, University of Oregon, Spring '18

"Brandon was a great GE to have for the lab section of this course. He was able to explain everything perfectly clear and answer any questions I had while still having energy to make the class laugh and raise our spirits." -- Ava O, University of Oregon, Spring '18

"I thought he did a good job of making class time fun and entertaining. It was very productive, yet the students, I felt, were all engaged in the material" Anonymous, University of Oregon, Winter '18

"I appreciated the laid-back, comfortable feeling that I had in this lab. I never dreaded going to class and always enjoyed my time in it because of how Brandon interacted with his students" Anonymous, University of Oregon, Winter '18

"Brandon was good at explaining guidelines and what had to be done that day. He really cared about his student's success and would take the time to help students individually" Anonymous, University of Oregon, Fall '17

"I definitely felt comfortable asking Brandon any questions I had, I thought he was a very fair grader and really good at checking in to make sure everyone in class was on top of things and understood what they needed to do. While one on one class time was effective, lectures as a whole were not particularly engaging or always the clearest, and students were often working at very different paces." -- Patience G., University of Oregon, Fall '17

"Brandon was an awesome teacher. I think that lab would've been better if he were able to dictate how we could use our lab time." -- Bridgette V. University of Oregon, Fall '17