Teaching Pedagogy

My Teaching Pedagogy:

First and foremost, I believe that learning is an interactive and collaborative process. In my experience, students learn better when they are active and engaged. Thus, my first task as an instructor is to learn about my students - what interests and motivates them, what they hope to learn and how they learn best. As a result of my beliefs about engaged learners, each class I teach is unique and tailored to my students' interests. I am not hesitant to use a number of different teaching styles in order to make my point. I am comfortable with traditional lectures, facilitated discussions, homework assignments, demonstrations, group activities, use of computers and audio/visual material, guest speakers, quizzes, essay tests and any other method of conveying information that I think will help.

A second key feature of my teaching philosophy is the idea that students should be critical thinkers. Complementing this is my belief that students should be able to actually apply the material learned in classes. Another way I engage critical thinking and active learning is through relying on classroom discussion to draw out key points. In doing so, I model a number of important skills such as discussions, debates, and guided critiques. As a result, many of my homework assignments and in-class activities deal with questioning theories and their real-world utility. I often have students applying information from class to things that have happen in their lives through compiled journal entries (visual and/or written). Students then share among one another their entries and discuss them in class in order for me to assess their knowledge. It helps to solidify knowledge presented to them in more traditional ways (e.g., lectures) and provide an experiential component to increase their understanding.

Thirdly, I believe that a teacher should be, in a sense, transparent. I want students to understand that I base everything I do in class on a pedagogical belief, and I want them to know what those beliefs are. I want them to understand what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. I want them to know what they will learn in my classroom and how they will be assessed. I am always open to student feedback, and am willing to make changes in order to do my job more successfully. Not only does this allow them to effectively evaluate how well they are doing, it also allows them to decide how well I am doing. I have learned through years of interacting with students, that there is a fine line between changing to better serve students and simply being a pushover. This is an area of concern that I continually revisit in order to make sure that I am being firm and fair, yet appropriately flexible.

Lastly, I believe that any education should provide skills beyond simple understanding of classroom topics. To that end, I focus on three main "life skills" that I believe students will carry with them into their working lives. These skills are 1) writing, 2) public speaking, and 3) technology. As a result of learning these skills I wish for students to be able to understand the applications they have learned and be able to utilize them outside of the classroom for the advancement of their careers.

Here are a few small examples of my notes, lesson plans and presentations:

Contemporary Issues in Photography (Notes as of Spring 2008)
Intro to Digital Photography (Sample Syllabus)
Art and Commodity (PowerPoint download)
Death of an Author (PowerPoint download)
African-American Cultural Marxism (PowerPoint download)

For more information about teaching, please contact me via email.

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	My Teaching Pedagogy: First and foremost, I believe that learning is an interactive and collaborative process. In my experience, students learn better when they are active and engaged. Thus, my first task as an instructor is to learn about my students - what interests and motivates them, what they hope to learn and how they learn best. As a result of my beliefs about engaged learners, each class I teach is unique and tailored to my students' interests. I am not hesitant to use a number of different teaching styles in order to make my point. I am comfortable with traditional lectures, facilitated discussions, homework assignments, demonstrations, group activities, use of computers and audio/visual material, guest speakers, quizzes, essay tests and any other method of conveying information that I think will help. A second key feature of my teaching philosophy is the idea that students should be critical thinkers. Complementing this is my belief that students should be able to actually apply the material learned in classes. Another way I engage critical thinking and active learning is through relying on classroom discussion to draw out key points. In doing so, I model a number of important skills such as discussions, debates, and guided critiques. As a result, many of my homework assignments and in-class activities deal with questioning theories and their real-world utility. I often have students applying information from class to things that have happen in their lives through compiled journal entries (visual and/or written). Students then share among one another their entries and discuss them in class in order for me to assess their knowledge. It helps to solidify knowledge presented to them in more traditional ways (e.g., lectures) and provide an experiential component to increase their understanding. Thirdly, I believe that a teacher should be, in a sense, transparent. I want students to understand that I base everything I do in class on a pedagogical belief, and I want them to know what those beliefs are. I want them to understand what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. I want them to know what they will learn in my classroom and how they will be assessed. I am always open to student feedback, and am willing to make changes in order to do my job more successfully. Not only does this allow them to effectively evaluate how well they are doing, it also allows them to decide how well I am doing. I have learned through years of interacting with students, that there is a fine line between changing to better serve students and simply being a pushover. This is an area of concern that I continually revisit in order to make sure that I am being firm and fair, yet appropriately flexible. Lastly, I believe that any education should provide skills beyond simple understanding of classroom topics. To that end, I focus on three main "life skills" that I believe students will carry with them into their working lives. These skills are 1) writing, 2) public speaking, and 3) technology. As a result of learning these skills I wish for students to be able to understand the applications they have learned and be able to utilize them outside of the classroom for the advancement of their careers. Here are a few small examples of my notes, lesson plans and presentations: Contemporary Issues in Photography (Notes as of Spring 2008) Intro to Digital Photography (Sample Syllabus) Art and Commodity (PowerPoint download) Death of an Author (PowerPoint download) African-American Cultural Marxism (PowerPoint download) For more information about teaching, please contact me via email.
	© 2009