Teaching

 am Debanjali Dasgupta, I'm a job market candidate and a final year Ph.D student in Economics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My teaching philosophy is inspired by my formative experiences as a student and by my mother, a dedicated middle school teacher in India. Growing up, I watched her nurture students' growth and help them overcome fears to become better students and individuals. This example continues to resonate with me, and I aim to follow her guiding principles in my own classroom.

I have been fortunate to gain many teaching experiences since my undergraduate studies, including teaching underprivileged children after lecture hours. Through this, I realized that encouragement and accessibility can have a long-lasting impact on students. My goal is to foster a love of learning and help each student realize their potential in an inclusive classroom. As a graduate student, I have taught three undergraduate economics courses as a primary instructor: Principles of Macroeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, and Intermediate Macroeconomics. I focus on patience and creating a welcoming environment where every student feels comfortable speaking. Throughout my childhood, I was an introverted student who feared speaking up in class, worried that my answer would be wrong. It took me a long time to get that fear out of me. Hence, in my class, I normalize error; wrong answers are a starting point, not a setback, and I encourage everyone to participate. I keep giving my students hints to help them reach the right answer in class and encourage them at each step. I have witnessed that a little encouragement can boost a student's confidence. I use low-stakes formats (brief writes, pair-shares, small groups) to make speaking up feel safe and routine. This also encourages collective learning and fosters teamwork skills. In addition to fostering participation, I learn alongside my students: about the hardest content, better time management, and the way confidence develops when learners feel heard. I emphasize understanding over memorization and focus on connecting ideas to the real world. I try to explain the concepts in the simplest possible manner so that the students do not have to memorize anything. For example, in my Intermediate Macroeconomics course, I use applied, data-driven activities (e.g., computing and interpreting country growth rates) and short quizzes based on news articles from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. News analysis is an important part of my courses. These help students connect dots between models and events and have measurably improved engagement and retention. My aim is to ensure they walk out of an economics class able to interpret the concepts and apply them to the real world.I have seen that students are often fearful of math and equations. To reduce math anxiety and boost confidence, I start my economics classes with a math review on the first two days, covering basic concepts needed for the course. This approach helps students focus on concepts and strengthens their math skills.I believe that presentation skills should be cultivated from early coursework. I use group activities to give students practice in presenting material clearly and effectively. As a graduate student, receiving valuable feedback has helped improve my own presentation skills, which I share with my students. I also aim to introduce coding activities using STATA and R in future classes.

To further enhance my teaching, I use student feedback and assessment to guide my course design. I run a mid-semester feedback survey to identify what is working and what needs adjustment in content, pacing, or support. At the end of most classes, a one-minute exit ticket asks students to write three things they learned that day. This reflection consolidates key ideas and gives me immediate evidence to address misconceptions in the next class. I also hold extended office hours, where I work with students who are having difficulty with the concepts. I aim to be accessible to students so that they are not afraid to reach out to me. I strive to create an environment where students can freely communicate about their difficulties in class and discuss their academic goals for the future. Last semester, a student wrote to me after the course ended, saying thank you for not just caring about economics but about students in general, and I think that has been my best reward throughout my experience.

Above all, I strive to build a positive, well-organized classroom where students feel respected, challenged, and excited to apply economics beyond the classroom, developing inquiry, communication, and confidence.

Is there any additional feedback you would like to provide about the instructor (e.g., teaching style, time management, accessibility)?

• One of my favorite professors I've had at UT. I would recommend her to anyone!

• I think there has been great communication throughout the course.

• I loved having her class, very good instructor

• Best professor I had this semester. I emailed her a few times late at night and she was quick with a response which was appreciated. I think she was about as good as you can be at teaching econ and as long as you talked to her I do not understand how you could have done bad in this class.

• I loved the way that this class was taught, i learned so much!!

• Professor Dasgupta teaches well and she is always willing to meet for office hours or answer any questions students may have in order to help us the best she can.

• Dasgupta is an Angel. She has spent extra time with me to help me understand the course material. I am blessed to have taken her course. 

• great class. thank you very much 

• Very nice and knowledgeable. The only thing I have to say is that we need better (typed) notes as the posted notes are sometimes hard to read with the handwriting.

• Great course, provides good background for economic knowledge. I am excited for the rest of my economic programs.

• She was a great professor with great feedback and always reachable via email!

• She gave us the option to have a 10 minute break during class which I really appreciated because studies have shown breaks help when retaining information for a long period of time. I think her time management is very well. She communicated when things are on or off track which helps students understand what to do.

• Easy to learn from her.

• Her lectures were full of good information, and she made sure to include memorization tips and why certain skills or calculations were important to real economics. She was always on time and taught, but if we finished the syllabus-designated learning for the day, she let us out early, allowing us to stay and ask questions if we needed to. Despite this, we never fell behind and learned everything we needed to.

• I enjoyed her class, everything was well organized and easy to navigate

• Phenomenal instructor that really helped me understand the material, rather than just memorizing

• She is super nice and supported us throughout the class. The workload wasn't too bad and her tests were very telling of how much I knew the material.

• I thought the class made it easy to understand the material easily during the class. I felt like I came out of the class everyday understanding the material.