Courses & Pedagogy

I view education as a holistic, critically engaged, and always evolving process. This pedagogical orientation stems directly from my anthropological training. Like my research and service, my pedagogy is driven by a commitment to helping students build and apply their critical thinking skills in myriad contexts. I conceptualize and practice teaching and mentoring as exercises in reciprocity and opportunities not only to teach but also to learn. My approach is grounded in honoring and valuing students’ varied life histories by recognizing they are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge and repeat things back to me. Instead, I view my primary role in the classroom as creatively guiding, advising, and facilitating learning and critical thought.

My anthropological training and teaching history at the University of Memphis, the University of Arizona, UT-San Antonio have provided me with opportunities to continually adjust and improve my pedagogy through tailoring my teaching practices to student needs, with special attention to the needs of first-generation students and students from non-academic working-class backgrounds. Across institutions, students in my classes have had widely varying backgrounds, some with little formal academic preparation and others with a lot. Many students start with clear ideas and expectations for their education and future careers while others are unsure, and I see my role as helping them to achieve their goals while also challenging them to think in different ways that go beyond their expectations about their courses or their future careers.

I recognize that learning is an active and iterative process profoundly shaped by factors both in and out of the classroom. I prioritize building open and welcoming communities in the classroom by inviting students to participate in the decision-making process about certain aspects of the structure of the class, as well as by encouraging collaboration and cooperation on assignments to mimic the real-world realities of working on teams.

I regularly solicit feedback (with the option to send anonymous feedback) on my teaching and my courses throughout each term. I incorporate student feedback into the current course as best as I can, often negotiating with students to make changes to the course direction as they learn more. I find that regular self-assessment that incorporates student ideas and criticisms is the most effective way for me to create engaging learning environments. When I make it clear to students that I value their viewpoints by incorporating their feedback, it strengthens our rapport with one another, which helps to continue community building in the classroom.

The advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT has rapidly and dramatically changed the landscape of teaching on a day-to-day level. I continue adapting my courses to this new reality by adjusting my assessments to discourage reliance on LLMs. I talk bluntly with students about the impacts of LLMs on their learning, cognition, social lives, and future careers, noting that using LLMs without having a solid foundation for understanding what makes a good input or how to evaluate the quality and accuracy of its outputs has the potential to negatively impact their future employment since earning a degree from a university is meant to be indicative of a level of intellectual and/or practical training.