Teaching

(Brief) Teaching Philosophy

In bell hooks’ Teaching Critical Thinking, she opens with a description of what her teachers believed a ‘good education’ to be:

“not just one that would give us knowledge and prepare us for a vocation, it was also an education that would encourage an ongoing commitment to social justice, particularly to the struggle for racial equality…[they] shaped my sense of school as a place where the longing to know could be nurtured and grow.”[1]

I believe that hooks’ statement is a testament to the importance of connecting what is taught in the classroom to what goes on outside of academia. The duty of an educator is to not only teach a student about a particular event, idea, or concept, but to also nurture in students a sense of social justice and of “longing to know.” My teaching philosophy is therefore based on two principles: conversation and equity. Conversation is by nature a dialogue, the exchange of understandings and information; it is also inclusive, in that it encourages individual voice while developing it as part of the classroom community. Likewise, equity in the classroom plays out in the creation of a cooperative learning environment in which all students have an equal opportunity to learn.

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[1] Bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom (New York: Routledge, 2010), 1.

Recent Courses

Here are the most recent courses I have been a Teaching Assistant (marked as TA) in or have guest lectured (marked as GL) in:

(TA) Spring 2021-2022 — HIST 1222: Medieval History in Film & Literature with Dr. Kevin Uhalde

(TA) Fall 2021-2022 — HIST 1330: World History since 1750 with Dr. Jeanne Gleich-Anthony

(GL) Fall 2020-2021 — IART 1170: Introduction to the Arts: Arts in Contexts with Dr. Tereza Kidane — Lecture given on “Hip-Hop and Political Activism in the Atlantic World”

(GL) Fall 2020-2021 — WGSS 1000: Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with Dr. Kutlwano Mokgwathi — Lecture given on “Feminist Discourse in Senegal: From Mariama Bâ to Toussa Senerap”

(TA) Spring 2019-2020 & Fall 2020-2021 — HIST 1320: World History before 1750 with Dr. Michele Clouse

(GL) Fall 2019-2020 — INST 1100: Modern Africa with Dr. Joyce Wamoyi — Lecture given on “The Atlantic Slave Trade”

(TA) Spring 2018-2019 & Fall 2019-2020 — HIST 1330: World History since 1750 with Dr. Mariana Dantas

(TA) Fall 2018-2019 — HIST 1330: World History since 1750 with Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish

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