STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I aim to expose students to the world of critical reading and writing and demonstrate how both are vehicles for deep intellectual engagement and knowledge production. Furthermore, my teaching style encourages students to become proficient in evidence-based thinking by the use of textual evidence to support distinct and arguable claims. As a proponent of Paulo Freire’s “co-intentional education” and bell hooks’ “engaged pedagogy,” I strive for a learner-centered classroom environment where students enlist as knowledge producers and generate engaged classroom conversations through experiential and cooperative learning. As a facilitator in the classroom, my primary pedagogical responsibility is to guide my students through an inquiry-based process in order for them to craft their own readings and interpretations of the topics presented in composition and literature. In order to achieve these goals, I create a learning environment that invites students to become co-inquirers with me as the instructor.
To promote this process, I design experiential learning activities that enable students to become proficient in self-assessment, metacognition, and evidence evaluation vis-à-vis collaborative learning assignments. This ‘flipped classroom’ methodology enables students’ own ideas to emerge organically as opposed to conveying information to them in the form of a lecture. For instance, when I teach claim development and argumentation, I begin with having students write about their prior knowledge through a free-writing activity. Students write briefly (5-7 minutes) before discussing in small groups what they wrote. The ‘think-pair-share’ model allows for them to begin with their own assumptions about a given topic, question, or idea. By beginning this way, as a ‘guide by their side’ rather than a ‘sage on the stage,’ I initiate an authentic learning process by having students begin with the knowledge they have already accumulated over their lives before moving on to the acquisition of new knowledge presented in my classroom.
My pedagogy is indebted to the field of composition studies and knowledge transfer; therefore, I bring components of composition pedagogy into my literature classroom. For instance, I approach the teaching of literature through a process-based approach that privileges the process of inquiry over finished products. Moreover, my process-based approach positions reading and writing as mutually constitutive for intellectual engagement. This begins with teaching students how to close-read and scrutinize texts of all genres.
Another skill-set that transfers beyond my classroom is teaching students how to craft open-ended guided questions in their group presentation projects. With the aid of open-ended guided questions curated in my students’ group presentation projects, I instruct my students to rely on one another in order to navigate the complexities of course materials. Bransford and Schwartz (1999) argue that open-ended questions (such as problem-posing questions) allow students to begin with what they already know about a given subject. By beginning with students’ prior knowledge experiences of course content, they are able to see how learning and writing are dynamic processes. Because students have been largely conditioned by a culture of schooling that privileges high stakes standardized testing, my primary pedagogical responsibility in the classroom is to re-shape students’ affective relationship to both reading and writing practices. This means that in addition to reading practices, I focus on the writing process as it pertains to the selected course texts. Thus, I find it imperative to not only teach students how to critically read, but also, how to write about course content and materials through process-based inquiries.
Each course I have taught demands a different set of pedagogical skills and strategies for engaging undergraduate students in the classroom. For instance, English 2020: Gay and Lesbian Literature requires the use of fiction as a catalyst for student writing and intellectual creativity. ENGL 2020 also requires the use of a variety of literary genres for students to engage with in their writing assignments. ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020, however, both demand that composition and writing receive priority over course content. In first-year composition classes, students learn to integrate the nuances of rhetorical sensitivity with the power of rhetoric and writing. Despite these differences, my primary pedagogical responsibility in all classes is to equip students with a knowledge of and language for reading and writing skills that transfer beyond the general education English classroom. I am one who endorses participatory learning/ “dialogic” learning, social understanding and activism, critical thinking/open-mindedness to diverse perspectives, and the use of students’ personal experiences as a resource for academic inquiries. My scholarship is situated within the field of critical and feminist pedagogies and cognitive literary studies. Therefore, I envision both composition and literature classrooms as a space for experimentation, learning, reflection, and collaboration between my students and myself.
Regardless of the type of course, the learning goals for my classes emphasize that students are expected to become comfortable and confident in discussing and writing about course content. Indeed, I am committed to re-shaping students’ affective relationships to both reading and writing as it impinges on writing and the study of literary texts. I strive to re-educate students about the purpose and benefits of studying course content and writing about it. Another goal for each course calls upon students to contribute to the burgeoning field of knowledge production by crafting inquiries in the classroom and in writing assignments. This course goal enlists students as knowledge producers and active agents in the classroom as “insider experts.” In addition, my aim in each course is to expose students to the conflicts within the subject materials for the course, what Gerald Graff calls “teaching the conflicts.” With a focus on “conflicts” rather than consensus, students are able to come to their own conclusions about topics and ideas presented in my classroom.
I measure the effectiveness of my teaching based on students’ final reflections, anonymous student feedback, and official course evaluations. I view learning as a two-way street, which simply means that I learn just as much from my students as they do from me. An effective way that I assess my teaching practices is through soliciting students for feedback. For instance, students’ final reflections composed at the end of each semester are a valuable resource archive because it is a sustained and honest critique of my teaching practices and the activities I have implemented throughout the semester. My goal in the classroom is to be transparent with my students; therefore, I invite students’ engaged feedback as an opportunity to strengthen my pedagogical skills and revise the course based upon student feedback and experience.
Finally, my teaching exemplifies that my primary responsibility to my students is to equip them with reading and writing skills necessary to navigate an ever-changing global landscape. If we wish to affect the kinds of change we hope to see in students’ perception and understanding of post-secondary education, we must consider the choices we make for the contents of our curricula and how we teach students to critically read and write in our classrooms. As teachers, we have a responsibility to enable students with a vital tool kit that provides them with the practical skills and intellectual insight needed to navigate post-secondary education and their professional lives. Through the texts and topics I teach in general education English courses, I strive to educate students about the value of reading and writing practices and how these skills transfer to their future professional endeavors. The synergy created between my instruction and research in critical pedagogy powers my passion for teaching first and second-year students how to be engaged and socially responsible citizens who strive for a more socially just world.