Teaching philosophy

At the age of 7, I taught my four-year-old sister how to read! I guess you can say that I discovered my passion for teaching at a very young age. I did not discover my love for research until much later, but once I learned that I could combine teaching, learning, and research into one job-  I knew that I would pursue a career in as a college educator. have over 25 years of experience as an educator, from pres-school classroom to Medical fellowship training. As I have grown older and wiser I have learned that teaching can happen in many contexts, thus currently I spend a lot of time teaching patients how to advocate for themselves when navigating the healthcare system. For me, the "classroom" is but a window into our human experience and I see formal education as a privilage. 

As a life-long learner myself, I believe that learning happens best when we are engaged in community. To this end, I believe the co-creation of knowledge is facilitated through the participation of students, instructors, community and the social world we engage in. When I am in the classroom, I let stdunets take the lead. I see the classroom as a shared space and although, I am the instructor, I think learners have a larger role than me. After all, I am outnumbered! 

Students’ learning in my courses is self-guided. You get to decide how much you learn and how much time you invest. I am the facilitator, which means I bring in the materials, but ask you to do something with them. I also get to assess what you do, but I am fairly lenient in that. The way you interact with the learning environment is up to you! For some of you, this will be the first time you are asked to own your learning and it will be a new and challenging process, but I can guarantee that you will change your perspective on what it means to be a learner and an instructor.  

I think that we are all sociologists and society is our classroom. My first sociologist professor was my mother. I have one rule and one expectation in the classroom. The rule is that we hold each other to the highest standards of respect and dignity. The expectation is that you bring the best version of yourself into this learning space. I recognize that as objects and subjects of society we are consistently changing. This means that the best version of you (and me) also varies and changes- I get that! But that is no excuse to break the one rule that exists in our classroom (Rule: We hold each other to the highest standards of respect and dignity). 

I am going to enjoy working with you!