Teaching Philosophy

“What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”

                                                                        ― Paulo Freire, 1990 “We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change”

 

My teaching employs a critical pedagogy that engages the emotions, ideas, and experiences of students to critically reflect on inclusive communication practices and behaviors. As a Communication scholar interested in race and critical relational research, I emphasize the significance of the transactional and dynamic relationship between social structures, socio-relational narratives, and communication. I invite students to use their experiences as vehicles of knowledge to expand their understanding of how communication behaviors reify inequalities inside and outside the family home. To do this, I use community-building strategies such as class discussions, group activities, and self-reflexive exercises throughout my courses.

 

During an abrupt shift to remote-instruction at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, my mentor shared with me a transformational quote by bell hooks (1994), “The classroom with all its limitations remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility, we have the opportunity to labor for freedom...to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom” (p. 207). While shared with me as a reminder that the educator's mission is steadfast—even in times of crisis—this brief excerpt has become a critical component of my teaching philosophy. As an ever-growing scholar and educator, my goal is to challenge students to think critically about "what, how, and why they know what they know" about the world, and to use the classroom as a welcoming space to present solutions and alternatives to real-world problems. I invite inclusive conversations that engage the political, historical, and cultural struggles that many of my students may face. These conversations serve to highlight students’ experiences with and impact of intersectional communication practices. In doing so, rather than regurgitate trivial data points, my students become critically reflexive scholars who offer unique and diverse perspectives, to the field of Communication Studies.

 

While my academic interests are centrally situated in communication research, my goal as an educator is to foster an environment of creative collaboration, inclusion, and diverse representation. I am continuously excited to see the connections and discoveries students make throughout my courses and personal lives. Students are welcome to use their lived narratives as reference points to better understand and complicate course materials. I encourage students to share their unique and distinct perspectives to empower them to imagine their role as activists in their communities. I challenge my students to address difficult and complex questions in the classroom. Ultimately, my goal is to offer students a sincere and purposeful academic experience where theory and research intersect with personal experience and empowerment for change.