Teaching Philosophy

Some of the strongest critical thinking is driven by an ability to synthesize materials through your own perspective. Independent thinking allows people to bring together learned materials and theories to bring forward a unique perspective. This is encouraged through discussion, debate, and an openness in assignment topics for students. As a mentor, I have worked with students to tie in their own interests in the subject matter to write a successful paper for the course Justice for Children. A specific student was really struggling to understand the assignment and through a meeting, I was able to learn they were interested in anime. Through this, I was able to encourage them to make connections to anime when writing their paper, which resulted in an assignment with some unique conclusions and source material.

Identifying your strengths and weakness requires a finessing of your ability to assess your own work, which can often be difficult when you are learning how to do several things at once. With feedback, I believe it is important to provide ample comments that highlight where the students are succeeding and where their areas of improvement are. With regular assignments worthless instead of one large writing assignment, I can provide students with concrete steps for how to improve their writing and analysis. This method encourages growth and does not penalize students during their learning process, which is particularly important for first-year students. However, in order for their strengths to be accepted, they need to have confidence in their ability and their originality. Helping students develop this confidence I hope will lead to lesser feelings of imposter syndrome and the confidence to take risks.

With a foundation of a safe environment and a place to explore their own ideas, creativity becomes central to the course engagement. One way to accomplish this is through the unessay assignment. The unessay assignment invites students to deliver research creations that are unique to their own skillset and interests. In past iterations of research creations, I have had students perform plays, develop a map of missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada, and write poetry – to name a few. For this assignment to be successful, including formative activities that encourage creativity and creative output helps develop the confidence to select the unessay as an alternative assignment.

My main areas of teaching are history, mad studies, disability, theory, and creative methods, which all provide me with some essential tools for my teaching practice. History provides us with the space to reflect and think about actions. It allows us to see the larger picture, even when focusing on smaller details. Disability shows the importance of justice and teaching with compassion. The role of justice is both critical in approaching the subject matter and your philosophies as an educator. Theory helps translate and deepen our understandings of the subject matter. As a teacher who wants to break down the belief that theory is superfluous, I believe it is my role to demonstrate the relevance and applicability of theory as one tool amongst many. And finally, creative methods engage students’ independent and critical thinking skills with their own interpretations through methods that are of most interest to them. In teaching creative methods, I invite artistic practices in the classroom through activities and discussions on research-creation.

As a teacher, it is critical to turn inwards and reflect on your own practices. Every year teaching, I have engaged in several course feedback opportunities throughout the year to readjust my approach to the classroom, as needed. Each class is unique. After completing a mid-term survey, I strengthen my understanding of what activities and formative assessments are working best for their learning and what is not sticking. I follow up with a report back to my students and implement changes in response to each classes’ needs. This adjustment to each class helps foster a learning environment best suited to develop critical and independent thinking, foster confidence in their abilities and originality, and cultivate a relationship to creativity.

An area that I am currently seeking to improve in both my academic practice and teaching practice is inclusive reading. A few years ago, I implemented an intersectional audit of my fiction reading, which has resulted in more diverse reading. I have now begun this process by auditing my academic reading to identify where my largest gaps are. In doing this audit, it will translate into increased content from people writing from different perspectives. Finally, the next steps for my professional development are to turn to the activities and practices of high school teachers. I often find the creativity brought to the history high school classroom remarkable, and applicable within the university setting depending on the class setup. I intend to seek out training opportunities through education networks and public history networks, which often collaborate with high school history teachers. This will allow me to further develop the use of creativity in the classroom, and find new ways to engage students with the course materials.