| A Teaching Statement is a purposeful and reflective essay about your teaching beliefs and practices. It is an individual narrative that includes not only your beliefs about the teaching and learning process, but also concrete examples of the ways in which you enact these beliefs in the classroom or other learning environments. At its best, a Teaching Statement gives a clear and unique portrait of the you as a teacher, avoiding generic or empty philosophical statements about teaching. Your Teaching Statement can address any or all of the following: A. Your conception of how learning occurs B. A description of how your teaching facilitates student learning C. A reflection of why you teach the way you do D. How you adapt your teaching strategies to different courses and audiences E. The goals you have for yourself and for your students F. What, for you, constitutes evidence of student learning G. The ways in which you create an equity-minded, accessible, and inclusive learning environment for students with diverse backgrounds, skill levels, and abilities H. Your interests in new techniques, activities, and types of learning |
Year One
If I were to summarize my teaching philosophy in a single word, it would be engagement. At its heart, my teaching is about helping students develop the confidence, skills, and curiosity to engage meaningfully with the world around them. I try to do this by capturing students’ attention in the classroom, sharing my genuine enthusiasm for biology and the natural world, and showing students that I care about them as individuals, both in and out of the classroom.
Storytelling is a foundational aspect of my teaching. I build lessons around narrative threads that not only connect daily topics to larger themes in biology and beyond, but also make the material more memorable. Framing lessons as stories also helps students see science as a human endeavor, one shaped by people. This is one of the places where representation matters most. Students need (and deserve) to learn stories about people they can view as role models, often because of a shared identity (gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, etc.), which makes it imperative that I showcase the work of scientists from diverse backgrounds. This is one of the ways in which I work to create a classroom culture where curiosity is encouraged, mistakes are treated as a safe and essential part of learning, and every student feels that they belong – not just in my classroom, but in the broader realm of science as well.
Developing students’ critical thinking skills is central to my teaching. In a world where information is abundant and not always reliable, I want students to learn how to ask good questions, evaluate sources, and apply scientific ideas thoughtfully. My assessments emphasize synthesis and explanation rather than memorization; exams are open-book and open-note, with writing-based questions that ask students to apply concepts and explain patterns, supported by low-stakes activities that allow me to gauge understanding and adjust instruction in real time. Whenever possible, I extend these skills beyond the classroom through field-based, place-based, or even virtual explorations that encourage students to observe closely, make connections, and think about the natural world in new ways. My goal is to engage students not only in learning biology, but in thinking like scientists: being curious, skeptical, imaginative, and compassionate.
Community college classrooms bring together students with a wide range of life experiences, learning needs, and prior exposure to science. This diversity continually shapes my teaching and pushes me to adapt my materials and methods. I design learning experiences that support ESL learners, students with learning differences, and students entering with very different levels of preparation, while also encouraging students to share the knowledge and perspectives they bring with them. When students can connect course concepts to their own experiences and goals, learning becomes more meaningful and durable.
I am also mindful that most of my students are balancing school with work, family responsibilities, or returning to education after time away. I strive to design courses that offer flexibility where possible, without lowering academic expectations. I believe that rigor and compassion are partners rather than opposites: learning should be challenging, but also attainable, which inspires me to work with students to help them find sustainable pathways to meet high expectations.
Finally, collaboration is central to this work. On a daily or weekly basis, I partner with department staff, SAS staff, counselors, and fellow faculty to support student success. I often take advantage of opportunities to work with other faculty on specific projects in the context of communities of practice, both here at COM, as well as with faculty at other institutions. Collaborating with others allows me to learn from my colleagues, incorporate new teaching strategies, and model the process of learning that I hope my students will embrace. Ultimately, my teaching is grounded in connection, between ideas, people, and the stories that make science meaningful.
And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that I can tell a good story.