Darwin

My teaching philosophy centers around first meeting students where they are at in terms of their education and the life experiences they are bringing to that education. That is, respecting the student as an already knowledgeable and capable person with their own valid experiences of the world and not treating them as an "empty vessel" to simply receive information/instruction. From there, I rely on an interdisciplinary multi-tool model of education which takes into account the student's current skill set and helps them enhance it. That is, I help the student build on what they already know, layering up the subject matter upon that foundation so that they can make the connections necessary to advance their knowledge. I am a firm believer in connecting theory-to-practice. I often incorporate activities that help students apply their learning to real-world scenarios. E.g. I may give a student an assignment where I challenge them to closely read and extrapolate meaning from a Facebook post so that they can practice applying critical thinking skills to an everyday form of communication that is used in professional and personal capacities. This kind of assignment also helps them enhance their own communication skills by considering ways to better align the impact/reading of their online communication with their intent. Lastly, I believe in incorporating at least some historical understanding/context into lessons wherever possible. History shapes our present experiences, and as I have stated above, I believe in utilizing experiences to enhance critical thinking skills.