Teaching

Teaching Philosophy

I am a lifelong learner, and I believe that everyone and anyone who has the drive to learn and the will to succeed can do so. Teaching and learning are so interconnected; when I am in front of a classroom of young undergraduates I position myself to learn from them just as much as I plan on teaching them. Teaching, for me, is not a chore, but a natural position. I feel my truest self when I am helping others achieve their intellectual goals. My teaching philosophy builds on two principles: (1) to act as a resource for students, (2) to guide students toward becoming intelligent consumers of research.

Let’s throw the typical, archaic, didactic teaching out the window! Teachers of the 21st century should be part of their students network. They should act as a professional resource for their students. Someone who students feel comfortable approaching and often talk with about their career and college goals. I strive to be this kind of instructor for my students.

Within a scientific community a lot of misinformation, disguised as “good science, can be taken as the gold standard truth. I feel that it is my job to scaffold students in discerning good science from bad science; to realize the difference between science that is useful and conducted rigorously, and sloppy science peppered with false assumptions and invalid conclusions.

It is my job as a teacher to balance these two goals and promote a safe, constructive, and informative learning environment for my students.

Courses Taught

Instructor for PYSC211: Developmental Psychology (Spring 2017) [syllabus]

Instructor for PSYC313: Child Development (Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016) [in-person syllabus; online syllabus]

Teaching Assistant for PSYC300: Statistics in Psychology (Fall 2013, Spring 2014) [syllabus]

Instructor for PSYC405: Mystery, Madness, & Murder (Spring 2016) [syllabus]