"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." Anatole France This short quote by France nicely summarizes my philosophy of teaching. For me, the art of teaching is not a one-way street....the egotistical delirium of professing "truths" and dispensing wisdom. I work with students, drawing out and building on their strengths. My ultimate teaching goals are to help value critical inquiry and to see all of life as a learning experience. A true teacher never stops being a student. The foundation for any course I teach are the readings I select. I believe in giving students a wide assortment of readings that transcend disciplinary boundaries. By complementing theoretically dense pieces with real life applications, I have found that students come away with a deeper appreciation of the subject. My evaluations often say, "…too much reading". What often follows is... "…but I learned a lot". An important part of my class time is devoted to dialogue with and among students. I require students to write weekly reaction papers or write "analytic" questions to help them frame their understanding of the material. These become the basis for class discussions and interactions. This gives me the opportunity to assess whether students have read the required reading. It gives them the opportunity to rise above the reading and see the bigger picture. Students often say they didn't "get it" until they had to write their weekly reaction papers. I tell them the key to doing these assignments is to personalize and make them reflect their own social and personal worlds. I emphasize both process and product in my classes. Both are equally important for a student to master a small part of the topic or area of inquiry. The structure of evaluation in my courses is iterative and participatory. Exams are almost always a take-home format. Students are given a series of essay questions and one week to complete their answers. They are encouraged to participate in the creation of exam questions as well. I invite them to suggest potential questions anonymously one week before they receive the actual exam. This has been hugely successful in empowering students to feel they are getting something out of the class. It is also an excellent indicator of whether students understand key points and issues. In addition to these take home exams, I usually expect students to complete projects such as research proposals or a series of smaller, field-based assignments. I strongly believe that the classroom is only a small part of a student's education. In other words, students should be given as many opportunities as possible to see sociology at work in their everyday lives. Therefore I require students to work on a hands-on term project focussed on practical application and experience. Some examples : •
collecting graffiti samples from campus restrooms to illustrate ther different use of public space by men and women.
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photo essays illustrating the concept of inequality in their local communities.
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picking a community outside their own realm of experience and spending a semester doing a participant-observation and analysis.
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a content analysis of the body in popular culture.
Students have also constructed web sites about hate crimes, organized a demonstration about working conditions in the garment industry and performed numerous "theatre" events and skits on campus. After any of these assignments, I invite students to reflect on their experiences through de-briefing or reaction papers, etc... Students in my classes should realize there may or may not be a "right" answer to a particular question. I try to arm them with the tools to arrive at the best answer for them; all the while appreciating that their cultural capital, race, gender, sexual orientation, social class position and nationality have a huge impact on their perceptions. They are obliged to think critically about the use of these lenses (filters?) in everyday life and understand how others may arrive at seemingly contradictory answers to the same question