Teaching Philosophy

Mission

Education is critical to the maintenance of a free, democratic, humane, and prosperous society.  Education in a free society expands individual rights as well as individual responsibilities.  I am committed to assisting, supporting, and facilitating the learning process in and outside the classroom through the development of communication and critical thinking skills.  I am also committed to making the learning process a journey of discovery and enthusiasm where both successes and failures are encouraged and supported. I do this through the use of competency-based, experiential, and project-based educational principles.

Goals

  • Every student should find the classroom to be an extension of the world outside with a balance between theory and practical application.
  • Every student should find the classroom to be open, enjoyable, inspirational, and stimulating.
  • Every student should feel joy and enthusiasm for learning within the classroom and, as a result, incorporate lessons from those experiences into their behavior in the world beyond the classroom.

Critical measures

  • Questions about the domain of inquiry
  • Performance on class assignments
  • Evidence of scholarship beyond assignments
  • Ability to integrate other materials with the current course
  • The depth of class discussion
  • The degree to which students push my thinking
  • Number of students who express an interest in graduate studies
  • The degree to which students inspire each other
  • Student involvement in extracurricular and volunteer activities.