Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is a universal experience. No matter who we are or where we were raised, we have had varying degrees of exposure to the art of teaching. Throughout our lives, we experience people who teach us how to interact, live, and thrive in the world. In teaching others, we have the opportunity to absorb, process, and relay information in a way that can be absorbed, processed, and transmitted to those who we are teaching. It is an iterative process between the teacher and the learner that requires constant engagement with the material and the context in which the material is being explored. Effective teaching does not happen in a vacuum but is influenced by the teacher, the student, and the wider context in which the learning occurs. Teaching is a shared experience in which the educator and the students are both open to learning at each stage of the process.
According to Bloom (1956), there are 3 domains in which learning happens - cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. I believe that transformative education is more likely to happen when all three domains are engaged in the teaching process. Information that is taught needs to be presented in a way that also engages the student’s emotions while equipping them with the skills to use the knowledge to interact with the world around them. When I teach, my goals are to generate knowledge, inspire, and develop the skills to catalyze change. My teaching philosophy is guided by three principles that have influenced my pedagogical process: 1) to be authentic, 2) to raise the consciousness, and 3) to inspire. With every opportunity I have to teach, I strive to advance these three principles.
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Authenticity
As a teacher, I am committed to sharing content informed by research and best practices. The lens through which I perceive and experience the world and the multiple intersectionalities I embody as a woman of color is unique and underrepresented in knowledge-generation, pedagogy, and scholarship. With the growing reality of diversity in communities, I believe that knowledge produced, and the creators and disseminators of that knowledge need to be reflective of such communities. As a social work educator, I am committed to teaching a generation of scholars, clinicians, administrators, and activists who have learned to see how they exist in the world, and in turn, have learned how co-create with others who may not look like them.
In the learning environment, I model authenticity by providing students my unique and authentic perspective as it relates to the content. In doing this, I model what I expect from them - the courage to authentically share their perspectives. I ask that they engage in introspection and move knowledge from their heads to their hearts. I also encourage authenticity in the learning process by nurturing a classroom environment that is safe, inclusive, and open to learning from different perspectives. Authenticity is demonstrated and encouraged with mid-semester evaluations that I require from my students. This gives them an opportunity to be honest and share what they need from the course so that relevant learning takes place.
To do this well, I strive to remain true to myself and model how the integral intersections of one’s identity can be invaluable assets. For students, this means that early on, they are engaged in activities and discussions that facilitate both self-reflection, as well as dialogue about identity. In lectures I have given that talk about health disparities (Motivational Interviewing in Oncology Care and Treatment; Disparities in Perinatal Health - Prevalence, Practice, and Policy; Shame and Resiliency with Cancer Patients), I talk about what draws me to the work, sharing case examples from my personal and professional experiences. Using thoughtful questions, I invite students to share experiences through their multiple lenses of identity. This is fostered by creating spaces in curricula and throughout the semester for student teaching and presentations. This principle allows them to share parts of who they are while also taking responsibility for advancing knowledge in their community. Both individually and communally, I encourage and nurture a safe space for intellectual humility, inviting questions while empowering my students to share the responsibility of co-creating knowledge and understanding for their peers.
Consciousness-raising
As a teacher, I see it as my responsibility to help my students grow from where they are at the beginning of the lecture or the course. I want my students to question their knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, and values. It is important to have knowledge, to understand where the knowledge comes from, and to recognize how our identities shape the way we view the world. Consciousness-raising leads students on a journey of transformation that is possible both during the teaching process and at the end of the process.
A constructivist epistemology allows me to create space in the classroom for a diversity of voices, experiences, and opinions to be shared and included. This exposes and sensitizes students to a world outside of their own by helping them see topics and ideas from different vantage points. The exchanges that happen during teaching serve to produce culturally aware, sensitive and relevant scholars who think critically about the world and are inspired to do and be in response to this newfound knowledge.
In the classes I have taught in the Transtheoretical Social Work Practice: Brief Targeted Interventions course, I encourage students to first read materials and watch videos with a critical lens. Students are then invited to acknowledge what they read or saw from their own perspective. Finally, using dialogue and conversation, they are able to challenge themselves to potentially see other perspectives and dimensions that they may not have known without this insight from their peers. I have also found self-reflective journals to be useful tools for students that allow students to access a safe space for reflection and insights into their journey of transformation.
Inspire
As a social worker, my purpose is to see injustice, inequity, disparities, bring attention to it, and do something about it. As an educator, an additional mandate is to train the next generation of professionals to carry on the purpose of social work in whatever context they serve. I am committed to life-long learning, and this perspective drives me to invite others into spaces to learn about topics, processes, and people who have inspired me so that they too are inspired to pursue transformative knowledge. I try not to take for granted the opportunities I have had to be taught, shaped, and formed as a clinician, researcher, and educator which is why I am committed to teaching as a way to pay it forward and give that same opportunity to others.
When I teach, I endeavor to inspire, and at times model for my students across different levels. Firstly, teaching inspires growth that allows students to see beyond what is, and begin to imagine what is possible. Secondly, teaching inspires students to see what they themselves are capable of, which for me is the most rewarding aspect of teaching. Finally, teaching motivates and inspires students to go out and be the change. Knowledge does nothing for anyone unless it does something for someone. These three levels of inspiration through teaching are especially important lessons for my clinical students to teach their clients no matter which therapeutic modality they are employing.
As I accompany students on their journey of learning, I am reminded and I remind my students that the process of education is transformative, not just because of where it can take you, but because of who you become in the process. To achieve this, I integrate interactive and experiential learning into my classroom. This allows me to incorporate the three main domains for learning and also addresses a diversity of learning styles and needs within the classroom. In my qualitative research methods lecture, I conduct pre- and post-tests so that students are able to evaluate their own progress and be inspired by the knowledge gained to transform their research, as well as their communities that will be impacted by the work they are doing.
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As a teacher, it is my job to help each student see what they have inherently within themselves, show them places in the world that need their gifts, and help them figure out how to meet those needs with their knowledge, attitudes, and abilities. Everyone who comes into a space to be taught already possesses some mastery. They have knowledge and are experts in their own experiences. The knowledge and expertise are assets in the classroom as it makes the teaching process collaborative, enriching the content and bringing diversity into dialogue.
My experience of teaching has been deeply influenced by Ms. Kimberle Crenshaw’s Theory of Intersectionality and by black feminist scholars like bell hooks. In the works of these scholars, I am grounded in the truth that the academy is a place of possibility where educators have the honor and responsibility of liberating the hearts and minds of students, while harnessing the inherent gifts and abilities that reside within each person to be agents of transformation in a world that needs it.
