Welcome to my teaching portfolio. This is a collection of artifacts that document my teaching interests and experience. I will have more to share as my teaching identity continues to evolve over the years.
This page is divided into the following sections:
This page is divided into the following sections:
Teaching philosophy
What I want students to learn: In short, I want students to develop their critical thinking skills, learning to ask questions, look at things from different angles, consider practical implications and maybe some impractical ones too, read between the lines, feel a kinship to historical thinkers, move between generalizations and specifics, get lost for a while and then find their way back. Critical thinking requires information and media literacy: we all have to be able to identify and understand the source of a given text, think about how whether and how we can verify it, and evaluate claims to authority. These aren't my ideas or even terribly new ones, but that doesn't make them any less important.
What is learning? I am interested in the dual nature of learning as both deeply personal and necessarily social. I am used to thinking of learning as something that happens in quiet isolation: writing a reflection paper, reading to myself. But of course learning is also fundamentally social; some of the most pivotal moments in my intellectual life have come from conversations with friends and colleagues. Effective teaching requires designing coursework in such a way that the growth spurts from these personal and social dimensions build on one another.
How do these ideas about learning shape my approach to teaching? My foremost strategy is to help students build organizational frameworks: how we organize our knowledge is key to retaining it, and so I get them make connections, relate the academic to the personal, slot them into chronological timelines, concept maps, or diagrams of their design. I also give enormous priority to writing: I believe writing cogently is a crucial dimension of thinking critically, and it is a process that combines the personal and social dimensions of learning. It is also a skill in and of itself that every college graduate needs to master.
Social science at its best helps students understand their place in the world and cultivating their “sociological imagination” (Mills) -- although I'm rather more interested in a “socio-ecological imagination”. On one hand, I think students can benefit enormously from local research and outreach (e.g., understanding issues around Marcellus Shale while in school in Pennsylvania), and so I want to stay in one place in order to cultivate professional and personal relationships outside of the academy and connect class projects to community needs or debates (knowing that that can be fraught with a number of issues and needs to be undertaken carefully and reflexively). On the other hand, studying abroad was another of my formative educational experiences that provided a global perspective. I hope such opportunities continue to be increasingly available to all students. It would be a privilege to work regularly or occasionally with study abroad programs, leading shorter trips or semesters/years abroad.
Importantly, as much as I try to first articulate my principles and then put them into practice, sometimes I can only discern these principles after I have interpreted my (sometimes instinctive) actions in and out of the classroom. To that end, “teaching” for me is never a finished product, but an ever-unfolding process of bringing together what I do and what I believe. It requires a combination of examining my own learning style and experiences, trying to understand the classroom through my students’ eyes, comparing notes with colleagues, and reading up on effective pedagogy (Brookfield).
I am happy to provide a more elaborated teaching philosophy statement upon request.
What is learning? I am interested in the dual nature of learning as both deeply personal and necessarily social. I am used to thinking of learning as something that happens in quiet isolation: writing a reflection paper, reading to myself. But of course learning is also fundamentally social; some of the most pivotal moments in my intellectual life have come from conversations with friends and colleagues. Effective teaching requires designing coursework in such a way that the growth spurts from these personal and social dimensions build on one another.
How do these ideas about learning shape my approach to teaching? My foremost strategy is to help students build organizational frameworks: how we organize our knowledge is key to retaining it, and so I get them make connections, relate the academic to the personal, slot them into chronological timelines, concept maps, or diagrams of their design. I also give enormous priority to writing: I believe writing cogently is a crucial dimension of thinking critically, and it is a process that combines the personal and social dimensions of learning. It is also a skill in and of itself that every college graduate needs to master.
Social science at its best helps students understand their place in the world and cultivating their “sociological imagination” (Mills) -- although I'm rather more interested in a “socio-ecological imagination”. On one hand, I think students can benefit enormously from local research and outreach (e.g., understanding issues around Marcellus Shale while in school in Pennsylvania), and so I want to stay in one place in order to cultivate professional and personal relationships outside of the academy and connect class projects to community needs or debates (knowing that that can be fraught with a number of issues and needs to be undertaken carefully and reflexively). On the other hand, studying abroad was another of my formative educational experiences that provided a global perspective. I hope such opportunities continue to be increasingly available to all students. It would be a privilege to work regularly or occasionally with study abroad programs, leading shorter trips or semesters/years abroad.
Importantly, as much as I try to first articulate my principles and then put them into practice, sometimes I can only discern these principles after I have interpreted my (sometimes instinctive) actions in and out of the classroom. To that end, “teaching” for me is never a finished product, but an ever-unfolding process of bringing together what I do and what I believe. It requires a combination of examining my own learning style and experiences, trying to understand the classroom through my students’ eyes, comparing notes with colleagues, and reading up on effective pedagogy (Brookfield).
I am happy to provide a more elaborated teaching philosophy statement upon request.
| Teaching philosophy statement |
Experience
My teaching philosophy derives from my varied experiences. At Cornell University, I am teaching a first-year writing seminar of my own design, called "The Third World within": Poverty and paradox in the United States. My students craft social science research proposals on topics of their choosing, through many stages of review and revision. Collectively, we try to understand the multitudes contained in the US, alongside our own assumptions and blinders.
Previously, I was a TA through Cornell's Writing in the Majors program for course on international development and gender and globalization. I also helped staff the Graduate Writing Service, helping graduate students with a range of writing projects. In 2015, I received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award from my department.
Outside of the academy, I’ve had the opportunity to help teach a wide range of students, in varied settings:
- 9th and 11th graders at a Quaker high school (Peace & Justice and French classes)
- men incarcerated at two maximum-security correctional facilities, through the Cornell Prison Education Program (Sociology 101)
- adolescent girls, at a mentoring center in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, through the Peace Corps (English, French, computer skills)
See my CV (on the home page) for more information.
Previously, I was a TA through Cornell's Writing in the Majors program for course on international development and gender and globalization. I also helped staff the Graduate Writing Service, helping graduate students with a range of writing projects. In 2015, I received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award from my department.
Outside of the academy, I’ve had the opportunity to help teach a wide range of students, in varied settings:
- 9th and 11th graders at a Quaker high school (Peace & Justice and French classes)
- men incarcerated at two maximum-security correctional facilities, through the Cornell Prison Education Program (Sociology 101)
- adolescent girls, at a mentoring center in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, through the Peace Corps (English, French, computer skills)
See my CV (on the home page) for more information.
Evaluations
Meeting students’ needs of course requires asking those students what their needs are, and indeed, student feedback is an important part of my development as a teacher. In my classes, I ask my students to respond to mid-semester evaluation forms and modify my approach accordingly. After receiving feedback from students about organization and time use, I have made an effort to make my lessons plans more evident and provide a clearer structure for our time in sections. I write the day’s agenda on the board, with an indication of the time allotted to each activity -- even though sticking to a schedule or letting an interesting discussion take off can be a tough call! I also spend a few minutes at the beginning of the day explaining why I have put together the activities for the day.
In the DSOC 1101 class, one of the criteria students scored me lowest on was "involves everyone in class". That is still an ongoing struggle in a largely discussion-based class where some students have louder voices than others. My participation rubric (below) is one response, reminding students that it is their individual responsibility to participate while also recognizing that cultural conventions, personality differences, dis/advantages based on race/class/gender, etc. can shape participation and how it is perceived. But I am also working on strategies to involve everyone more: group work, preparation for class discussion in the form of writing or sharing with a partner, and activities that by their nature involve everyone (e.g., voting with their feet (literally)).
It was in a mid-semester evaluation where I learned that one student wanted to discuss less, and do more. He was an engineering student who was perhaps unused to the friendly ferment of discussion, but I took his plea seriously – especially for introductory courses – and changed how I allot time in section. Nearly every hour of my section has one or more activities to supplement the discussion, based on that feedback and the belief that in order to learn new information, a student must do something with it, from small and mundane efforts like reporting back to a group or writing up notes, to the higher-stakes work of projects and essays. I want the activities I design for class time foremost to be useful for students in building their internal libraries, trying out new ways of organizing information. But of course I want them to be fun and memorable in their own right, too! To that end, I try to vary what we do in the classroom, starting with icebreakers on the first day, facilitating a privilege walk (below), trying out a “crowdsource cram” on various topics, showing relevant historical photographs, working on political cartoons, and reviewing material by playing Jeopardy and putting together concept maps at the end of the semester. See below for some examples.
In the DSOC 1101 class, one of the criteria students scored me lowest on was "involves everyone in class". That is still an ongoing struggle in a largely discussion-based class where some students have louder voices than others. My participation rubric (below) is one response, reminding students that it is their individual responsibility to participate while also recognizing that cultural conventions, personality differences, dis/advantages based on race/class/gender, etc. can shape participation and how it is perceived. But I am also working on strategies to involve everyone more: group work, preparation for class discussion in the form of writing or sharing with a partner, and activities that by their nature involve everyone (e.g., voting with their feet (literally)).
It was in a mid-semester evaluation where I learned that one student wanted to discuss less, and do more. He was an engineering student who was perhaps unused to the friendly ferment of discussion, but I took his plea seriously – especially for introductory courses – and changed how I allot time in section. Nearly every hour of my section has one or more activities to supplement the discussion, based on that feedback and the belief that in order to learn new information, a student must do something with it, from small and mundane efforts like reporting back to a group or writing up notes, to the higher-stakes work of projects and essays. I want the activities I design for class time foremost to be useful for students in building their internal libraries, trying out new ways of organizing information. But of course I want them to be fun and memorable in their own right, too! To that end, I try to vary what we do in the classroom, starting with icebreakers on the first day, facilitating a privilege walk (below), trying out a “crowdsource cram” on various topics, showing relevant historical photographs, working on political cartoons, and reviewing material by playing Jeopardy and putting together concept maps at the end of the semester. See below for some examples.
Course design and planning
I have designed several syllabi (below), which would fit in departments such as sociology, natural resources, geography, and environmental studies.
- a first-year writing seminar on the "Third World within" (poverty, inequality, and marginalization within the US), where students learn to write a research proposal on a topic of their choosing
- a seminar for graduate students or advanced undergraduates on the sociology and politics of environmental knowledge, drawing from multiple disciplines and traditions
- a graduate-level seminar on the modernization of US agriculture, as an introduction to science studies and environmental history
| Sociology and politics of environmental knowledge- syllabus |
Insofar as student participation is a key part of the seminar, I recently put together a rubric (below) to grade participation. It serves as a guide for students, to have a clear idea of my expectations, and a guide for myself, for what is often an admittedly subjective exercise. It is based on attendance and preparedness for class, quantitative and qualitative measures of their contributions to discussions, and their general behavior. I note that participation in seminar-style discussions can be tough for students for a number of reasons, including cultural conventions, personality differences, and dis/advantages based on race/class/gender/other axes of difference. These factors can shape participation and how it is perceived.
I have also put together a two-page guide for students engaging in peer review of one another’s writing assignments (below). Peer reviewing is tough – students have to read something, quickly figure out its most important strengths and weakness, and then formulate specific comments to help the writer improve the paper. It requires reading skills (to discern a writer's main point, figure out what evidence is missing, etc.), writing skills (to provide clear and specific feedback), and communication skills (to phrase a critique in a constructive way). Students may still be working on these skills, or at least on combining them all in one go, so these peer review guidelines give them a step-by-step plan without being overly directive.
| Participation rubric |
| Peer review guidelines |
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Based on student feedback to "do more [and discuss less]" (above), I have integrated the following activities into my teaching, among many others.
The concept map to the right was part of a review for the course on the sociology of education (the pink bubble in the middle). Students first distilled the main themes and subthemes of the course (in red and orange). We then added in the readings for the course (in yellow). More than the finished product, it is the process of organizing a semester's worth of readings into a visual diagram that is important and useful. I am happy to share more activities: - a privilege walk on education (e.g., "take one step forward if you always had access to a computer at home" or "take one step backward if you took out loans for your education") |
Concept map of course themes and readings (described at left). Generated with www.bubbl.us.
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Professional development for teaching
Teaching, like learning, is deeply social. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a Graduate Teaching Assistant Fellow with Cornell’s Center for Teaching Excellence, which is a chance to troubleshoot with colleagues from varied disciplines, provide feedback for my peers (particularly international TAs), and run workshops and a university-wide teaching conference. In the fall of 2014, I co-led a workshop on soliciting constructive student evaluations; in the spring of 2015, I co-led two workshops on teaching large classes.
In the fall of 2014, I took a course on The Practice of Teaching in Higher Education, which provided a chance to further develop my teaching identity and put together a teaching portfolio.
I am proudest, however, of my work with fellow Development Sociology graduate student Jum Warritay, in creating a teaching resource bank for our fellow TAs. We solicited lesson plans, discussion questions, videos, activities and assignments, general teaching tips, syllabi and more from our fellow TAs and instructors within the department. I also interviewed several TAs/instructors in order to write up their experiences and lessons learned. We organized these documents into a teaching resource bank for present and future TAs, and continue to invite submissions. The following images are screenshots of the Blackboard "bank," available to current TAs in the department.
In the fall of 2014, I took a course on The Practice of Teaching in Higher Education, which provided a chance to further develop my teaching identity and put together a teaching portfolio.
I am proudest, however, of my work with fellow Development Sociology graduate student Jum Warritay, in creating a teaching resource bank for our fellow TAs. We solicited lesson plans, discussion questions, videos, activities and assignments, general teaching tips, syllabi and more from our fellow TAs and instructors within the department. I also interviewed several TAs/instructors in order to write up their experiences and lessons learned. We organized these documents into a teaching resource bank for present and future TAs, and continue to invite submissions. The following images are screenshots of the Blackboard "bank," available to current TAs in the department.
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I recently had the opportunity to speak with two professors with PhDs from Cornell's Development Sociology department, who now both teach at a nearby liberal arts college. I have not shared these faculty interviews here because of the private content, but I can list a few of the lessons learned for my own professional aspirations. Foremost, I was grateful for the opportunity to sit down and have a thoughtful conversation about professional and personal issues with two women who I admire -- and in whose footsteps I hope to follow! Both were junior enough to have navigated a similar professional landscape in their degree programs and in starting their first teaching position, but senior enough to be able to reflect on several years of experience in those positions. Both also share my commitment to taking time to address social problems in our own ways outside the university, and leaving room for family relationships and personal projects -- and the ensuing tradeoffs between job security and workload. It was reassuring to hear these similar concerns from them, but less clear about how to address them in my own life and career. Both also clearly articulated a professional identity/philosophy and a personal style of working (e.g., weekly check-ins with friends and social accountability) that help them structure their days and weeks with conscious intent and rhythm. This helped me to understand better the value of crafting a philosophy in helping me to organize my own work and give me something to fall back on when I'm not sure what to do in a given situation.
