Teaching Philosophy

Over the past several years, I have taught both face-to-face courses and completely online courses; first year college students and veteran instructors; technophiles and technophobes-in each context, I find that the critical element that allows me to be a successful teacher is that I take care to treat each student with respect, and truly listen to each one. Because I want the students in my courses to treat each other with respect, I find that modeling this behavior not only benefits my relationship with students, it also fosters better peer relationships in the class.

When I teach face-to-face classes, I strive to create a supportive environment, where students feel free to speak out, even if they have dissenting opinions. I also prefer my classes to be student-centered, but structured; when I teach, the room is often a whirlwind of activity as student peer groups work together and I circulate through the room, checking on their status and providing assistance when it is requested of me. To an outsider, this may appear chaotic, but I work from a specific set of goals and ground rules, carefully built upon throughout the semester; I find that it is far more effective to begin very formally than to try to regain control if it is all given away from the outset.

I believe that it is important to foster a sense of community in each class as well, particularly in technology-rich classrooms; students are more likely to develop positive peer-relationships if they are expected to help each other to develop technology literacies. I also believe that simply focusing on subject area skills is not sufficient; in addition to improving writing skills, I hope to foster critical thinking, facilitate the acquisition of life-long learning skills, and help prepare students to function effectively in an information economy. Ideally, students should be both challenged and supported, and encouraged to become self-sufficient learners.

Fall 2008
[ENG 410]  Professional and Technical Writing
[ENG 501] Intro to Professional Writing and Rhetoric

Spring 2008
[ENG 505] Computer-Assisted Publication: Writing and Design
[ENG 613] Technical and Scientific Writing