Pedagogy

My teaching is informed by 10 years of post-MSW social work practice experience, guided by liberatory practice perspective, and grounded in critical race theory and social constructivism. While my teaching philosophy and practices continue to evolve, I appreciate how these grounding perspectives and experiences have expanded my ability to be fluid and authentic in the classroom. I open each course with a brief overview of how I view generalist social work practice and present my web of orienting perspectives and values, theoretical frameworks, practice models, and methods and strategies. As we walk through these different theoretical elements, I ask the students to apply the four steps of critical thinking the perspectives, frameworks, models, and strategies: (1) To identify their assumptions (does evidence equal truth?); (2) To take a contemporary standpoint (where are we in this historical moment in relation to a given idea) (3) Search for exceptions, and (4) Perform reflective analysis (e.g., ask what it means that I think the way I do). Embedded in my teaching is an emphasis on “centering the margin.”