My Teaching Philosophy

I bring student-focused and student-first practice to my classroom, building both collaborative and individual relationships through listening, analysis, encouragement, and challenge. I meet students where they are, utilizing active listening and motivational-advising, and I challenge students to embrace their strengths, experiment with method of learning in which they are less comfortable, and help build students’ confidence to “adventure” through challenges to solve problems. I understand the necessity of pedagogical flexibility to address students’ needs in the classroom and respond to a class as a whole body, in small collaborative groups, and as individuals.

My classrooms are experiential and experimental, and I work with students to embrace the collaborative imperative of performance-making. I begin team-building and collaborative practice on the very first day of each course, working with students to recognize that our diverse backgrounds, experiences, learning styles, and strengths provide the foundation of a teaching and learning community that multiplies opportunities for collective growth. We quickly understand that there is no such thing as a solo artist and that our own efforts, contributions, and work are furthered through the collective experience of our peers. We recognize that each of us (myself included) are learners and that everyone has something to teach. Even so-called “solo artists” produce their work in collaboration with the efforts of many others. A performance-making classroom, therefore, must operate the same way to provide students the opportunity to strengthen their collaborative muscles.

In building a collaborative teaching and learning space, I encourage exploration and sharing of our diverse experiences, and I commit to a policy of radical transparency to maximize trust and engagement. I model this by sharing my own awareness of the ways my identities interact with texts, artists, and collaborators. Students are adaptable and understanding, and by delivering the reasoning behind my pedagogical and content decisions, I continue to witness an increase in trust in the teaching/learning relationship and a greater engagement from students in both traditional and co-curricular classrooms. Delivering the “why” we do things in addition to “how” we do things, provides students greater opportunities to think critically about the learning process.