Teaching Philosophy

Good teaching engages, challenges, and inspires growth in students. I believe this requires teachers to be concurrently engaged, challenged, and inspired. My approach to meeting these goals begins with fostering an effective teaching and learning environment in which students actively participate in critical scholarship. This requires a balance of my roles as lecturer, facilitator and mentor, all of which seek to connect course material with students in a relevant manner, to stimulate critical analyses, and to encourage intellectual development within and beyond the classroom. Throughout my teaching experience, my aim has been to elicit genuine and lasting interest from students in anthropological knowledge and skills and to generate the necessary understanding and self-confidence to both understand and critically apply their knowledge toward an eventual career in academia or elsewhere.

In the classroom, I engage students by communicating concepts and examples through a variety of means, always encouraging active involvement in a student-centered environment. My interactions with students over the years have affirmed that any concept can be taught to students in a way that engages their interest. For many students, for example, the notion of “theory” can often be intimidating. I am dedicated to helping students overcome this fear by illustrating the philosophical assumptions and arguments that underlie different approaches and traditions in anthropology. I find that students are less reserved when reading ethnography and literature if they understand what is at stake theoretically. In my experience, bringing a face, a life story and historical context into focus, prior to or alongside a discussion of a theoretical contribution, helps students see scholars and their work in a different light. Here, showing is more effective than telling.

To be sure, there are other obstacles in the teaching-learning process. Anthropology challenges commonly held assumptions and demands a commitment to holistic understanding. Students, especially those just being introduced to the discipline, have to question and deconstruct many pre-existing visions of the world and be open to a broad spectrum of new analytical frameworks. To facilitate this process, I present anthropological themes that are gauged to students’ needs and interests. In lectures and in seminars, I conduct debates, assign collaborative projects, and use multimedia such as film ethnographies, archival audio recordings, and photography to render the learning process more accessible, enjoyable, and memorable. In doing so, I prioritize the connection of the curriculum to life outside the classroom by encouraging students to situate concepts historically and theoretically within broader academic and non-academic discourses. I have found students to be more invested in this type of active learning.

As a visible minority student myself, I understand the importance of an inclusive and welcoming learning environment open to different ideas and cultural considerations. Particularly relevant in the field of anthropology, I encourage students from all backgrounds, experiences, and levels of privilege to critically self-reflect and draw on their personal identities in the effort to understand the breadth and depth of human values, beliefs, practices and experiences. Every student has the potential to understand, appreciate, and apply lessons learned from the rich theoretical, methodological and analytical theories and practices of anthropology. I am always open to students’ suggestions and viewpoints and enjoy stretching concepts and methods to deal with new topics in novel ways.

An inclusive learning environment also requires assessments to make space for diverse ways of knowing. Where possible, I organize a variety of assignments, including evaluations for collaborative presentations and debates, reading reflections, research papers, and exams. These assignments prepare students to articulate complex theories and evidence in anthropology. The disciplinary emphasis is on clear communication, strong writing skills, and critical thinking that will help students excel both in school and in their careers. As such, writing assignments are spaced out throughout the term so students are constantly exercising their skills and can improve over time. As some students may struggle to participate in class, I suggest they write down comments and questions about the week’s readings beforehand; these notes can also be given to me in advance to read in class for discussion. Further, students are encouraged to see me in my office hours. I have found one-on-one time with students to be productive, particularly in discussing ideas and generating effective solutions to issues at hand. Students are examined not purely for the sake of evaluation, but to have the opportunity to showcase their comprehension and synthesis of the term’s work. My study guide review helps students make the necessary connections amongst the course themes to see the “big picture” of the semester.

My philosophy on teaching is necessarily a working document. Learning to teach is a process of trial and error, and I recognize that I have much to learn from students. My teaching evaluations have consistently been strong and have gradually improved over the years as I have kept an open mind to students’ and peers’ sincere and constructive suggestions. I look forward to developing and refining my approach to teaching as I continue to learn from my students.