Teaching Philosophy Statement

My teaching philosophy revolves around a commitment to making the classroom more accessible and inclusive, interactive and engaging, and student-driven, all in the service of engendering growth in all my students, including diverse learners. I ensure equity through the use of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a framework, active support for marginalized and struggling students, and an eye towards the representation of diverse voices in the course curriculum. I foster engagement through dynamic course design, multimodal research assignments, and a focus on in-class discussion that encourages students to think critically. I encourage students’ agency and investment in their own learning by implementing scaffolded assignments and metacognitive reflections on their work, multiple grading options, and multiple means of perceiving course content and presenting their work. All of these things return the classroom to my students and ensure they both can and want to succeed. 

To build an accessible and inclusive classroom, I follow the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a framework. In keeping with the standards of UDL, all my teaching materials and methods are designed to be accessible to all students via multiple means of engagement. The lectures for my History of Early Christianity class are audiovisual and printed, grades are divided among assignments that make use of different forms of expression and methods of evaluation, and all writing projects in all my classes allow for multiple forms of expression in genre and media, ensuring that all my students can thrive. I incorporate flexible grading structures that accommodate diverse learning needs and expression styles. My Academic Writing course included scaffolded assignments, resubmissions, and a contract grading option for the final grade. I recognize that certain evaluation methods and assignments may provide advantages to able-bodied students while disadvantaging those who are unfamiliar with university life or who are disabled. I work closely with students facing challenges, whether due to health, personal circumstances, or unfamiliarity with academic norms. I guide them toward institutional resources and provide individualized support to help them stay on track. I make the material relevant to a diverse audience and meet my students where they are. My Academic writing course renders college writing intelligible to my students. By uncovering the genre conventions and rationales behind the kinds of writing they are expected to produce in college, as well as for genres they experience in their daily lives, and encouraging them to see how these diverse genres relate to one another in contexts, goals, and formats. This allows students to see why writing operates the way it does in different places and gives them agency over information. This improves their reading comprehension and their ability to compose in myriad genres, both academic and popular. Likewise, my History of Early Christianity class complicates perceptions of Christianity as an exclusively patriarchal phenomenon, and I help my students pay attention to the roles of women, the enslaved, and genderqueer individuals in antiquity. 

I design courses that are dynamic and interactive. My syllabi work to create engaging and flexible learning environments that flip the class and make space for questions and conversation. In my History of Early Christianity class, I give students pre-recorded lectures and their scripts with the session’s main ideas and content to guide their reading. Once in the classroom, students guide the discussion with their own questions while responding to open-ended questions that I provide. Students enjoy this structure, remarking that “I really enjoyed the format of the lecture podcasts” and “I really loved how we listened to/read the lecture material before meeting as a class, and then used class time to ask questions and discuss the material. This allowed for me to digest what we were learning in my own time, without feeling pressure in class.” Necessarily, I incorporate digital tools into my teaching methods, using LMSs, digital lectures, podcasts, gamified assignments, and interactive & collaborative discussion and writing spaces. This approach not only enriches their understanding of course material but also fosters critical thinking and dialogue about their own world. Research and writing assignments are multimodal, allowing students to choose how they want to present their work. In the past, students have chosen to present their History of Christianity research projects in multiple genres and formats: digital museum exhibits, podcasts, historical fiction, lesson plans, in addition to academic research papers. This rehumanizing, multimodal approach builds on students’ talents and allows them to engage creatively with the material in a way that is relevant both to their existing interests and skills.

I seek to empower students to take charge of their own learning. I guide students through large research and writing projects by scaffolding them into manageable stages and providing opportunities for feedback and revision. In my Academic Writing course, students are guided through three major writing projects in this way. Each is made up of multiple “project builder” assignments, which call for students to tackle important but manageable steps in the research and writing process before their drafts. Students found this very effective in making the course more manageable: “I liked how the final project was stretched out over the entire quarter, so it gave us a chance to really delve deep into our topics.” In these, I encourage students to write in a variety of genres and media on topics of their choosing. This process teaches students how to manage large projects and has the benefit of building students’ connection to their work while discouraging reliance on generative AI tools. The writing projects always have a component that calls for students to reflect on their writing processes—metacognition—to allow them moments of self-reflection in their work and to allow me an ability to see how they approached their writing. These projects are also multimodal and allow students to choose the genre and medium in which they present their work, fostering students’ ownership over their work. I guide students through discussion-based class sessions that give them the ability to reflect independently and in groups on the major themes and topics of the day’s material. 

At the heart of my approach is the belief that my teaching should have the effect of returning the classroom to my students so that they can connect meaningfully with course material, cultivate their unique talents, and develop a critical curiosity about their world. By centering equitability, engagement, and student-driven teaching, I ensure my students’ education is not just informative but empowering, preparing students to think critically, communicate effectively, and engage meaningfully with the world.