Teaching

Teaching is the first step in creating the next great generation of thinkers and researchers, and where I was once given the support and belief that led me to find my passion in research, I want to pay that investment in my own future forward into the futures of my students. Teaching can be transformative and with an open and reflective approach, constantly reassessing one’s approach in the classroom, and being receptive to student feedback, students will hopefully not only learn the subject matter, but find their passion.

The main goals that define my approach to teaching are:

• To support students to formulate questions about the discipline that intrigue and inspire them

• To maximize student understanding, engagement, and ability to apply concepts to new and unique situations

• To engage with reflective assessment practices and not only teach but continue to learn how to be the best educator for my students

Teaching Experience and Training

While I have not had the opportunity, as of yet, to be the instructor of record for a course, I have served as a teaching and administrative assistant for undergraduate and Master’s level courses for the past several years. As the teaching assistant for the University of Chicago undergraduate course Managerial Decision-Making, our focus was on constructing activities informed by our research practices in the Center for Decision Research and the Booth School of Business to provide students with not only the concepts but the ability to utilize those concepts to synthesize and solve unique scenarios. Students took part in an array of activities with this goal in mind, including weekly short written responses and in-class activities with their fellow classmates, allowing them to practice the concepts and negotiation and team-work, another key tenet of our course.

Knowing that one of my goals in continuing forward in academia was to teach and mentor students, I have sought out not only as many chances to engage with courses in my disciplines as I am able to, I have also engaged in the training offered by the Certificate in College Teaching at Duke University. Through this program, I have received training in best practices concerning student outcomes, reflective assessment, pedagogy, course design,online teaching, and how to engage with diversity friendly and informed practices. Combining this with the practices and norms I have observed while working with professors in my field, my aim is to promote not only learning in my students but passion for the subject matter. The CCT helped to bridge this gap, and assisted me in knowing where norms have failed students and how to adjust them to better promote student success in their learning. As well, being able to converse and develop resources with my peers in other disciplines gave me a richer perspective in how to approach courses so that students from departments and programs far different from my own will be able to engage with the course material and process the concepts in a manner best suited towards their way of synthesizing knowledge and learning.

Reflective Practices

While I have not had the opportunity, as of yet, to be the instructor of record for a course, I have served as a teaching and administrative assistant for undergraduate and Master’s level courses for the past several years. As the teaching assistant for the University of Chicago undergraduate course Managerial Decision-Making, our focus was on constructing activities informed by our research practices in the Center for Decision Research and the Booth School of Business to provide students with not only the concepts but the ability to utilize those concepts to synthesize and solve unique scenarios. Students took part in an array of activities with this goal in mind, including weekly short written responses and in-class activities with their fellow classmates, allowing them to practice the concepts and negotiation and team-work, another key tenet of our course.

Knowing that one of my goals in continuing forward in academia was to teach and mentor students, I have sought out not only as many chances to engage with courses in my disciplines as I am able to, I have also engaged in the training offered by the Certificate in College Teaching at Duke University. Through this program, I have received training in best practices concerning student outcomes, reflective assessment, pedagogy, course design,online teaching, and how to engage with diversity friendly and informed practices. Combining this with the practices and norms I have observed while working with professors in my field, my aim is to promote not only learning in my students but passion for the subject matter. The CCT helped to bridge this gap, and assisted me in knowing where norms have failed students and how to adjust them to better promote student success in their learning. As well, being able to converse and develop resources with my peers in other disciplines gave me a richer perspective in how to approach courses so that students from departments and programs far different from my own will be able to engage with the course material and process the concepts in a manner best suited towards their way of synthesizing knowledge and learning.

Teaching Evaluations