Doctoral Student in Health Behavior and Health Education
Teaching
Philosophy
My teaching philosophy emphasizes the development of students' critical thinking skills, ability to apply the material, and self-discovery through active learning. I have developed this perspective through 20 semesters of classroom teaching experience and 3 years of teaching as a Standardized Patient Instructor. My teaching practices have been further refined in numerous trainings. These experiences introduced me to the challenges of teaching undergraduate students complex interdisciplinary material, adapting my teaching style to accommodate students’ differing learning styles, and working with diverse groups of people.
I feel that my role as a teacher is help students integrate and apply the material to their lives, and to articulate their observations. As a tutor and an instructor, I have assisted students in developing papers in a wide variety of areas, from social theory to psychological research. These experiences have taught me the importance of helping students apply their critical thinking skills so they may most effectively frame their own analysis of a topic, as well as understand the perspectives of others.
Another important goal when teaching is to empower students to discover their own path. I view my research from a social advocacy perspective, and I encourage my students to also identify issues they are passionate about. One way I accomplish this goal when teaching is to incorporate current events, either from on campus or a broader community, to perk students’ interest and to help them develop the ability to critically analyze their social environment.
