Educating today for a better tomorrow.

Teaching Philosophy

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An essential component of my professional identity is my teaching philosophy and approach to classroom (on-campus and online) instruction. As I work to engage with students in the learning community, I continue to evaluate and refine my approach to educating. In this statement, I outline my teaching philosophy as it currently exists by reviewing my subjective lens that formulates my teaching philosophy, discussing core beliefs about adult learners, and exploring how I engage various teaching and assessment methods in the classroom setting. 

Subjective Lens

      My cultural identity is a driving force behind how I engage with students in the learning environment. As I strive to learn about and develop my cultural self-awareness, I also incorporate intersectional knowledge about students to meet varying academic needs and ensure a classroom is a place of support and growth. I hold a master's degree in clinical mental health and substance use disorder counseling and a doctorate in counselor education and supervision (CACREP-accredited). I appreciate serving as an educator in counseling and psychology because I enjoy watching scholars learn new skills and synthesize knowledge with real-world experiences. 

      My experience as a student was overwhelmingly positive. I benefitted immensely from the quest for knowledge and engagement in higher-order critical thinking and analysis of counseling concepts. I appreciated instruction constructed using Bloom's Taxonomy. This learning allowed me to develop my strengths as a counselor during my graduate and doctoral studies. For this reason, I work to address the needs of students according to higher-order thinking defined by Bloom's Taxonomy. Encouraging students to challenge their thought processes and engage in critical thinking and analysis is an exciting component of my work as an educator.

      My professional experience has afforded me many opportunities to grow as a counselor and an educator. My clinical work primarily involved an outpatient treatment facility dedicated to substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health concerns. While completing my doctorate, I served as an adjunct instructor in a master's level co-occurring disorders counselor education and training program. After the conferral of my degree, I transitioned to a core faculty role and am ranked as an assistant professor. I appreciate both clinical and instruction roles and find that they provide me with opportunities to foster self-reflection, pursue knowledge, and promote growth in others. It is rewarding to be a part of individual student journeys.

Core Beliefs and Theoretical Orientation

      My central approach to teaching involves the theoretical orientation of social constructivism. Constructivism emphasizes students bringing personal truth and reality to the learning process. McCaughan et al. also asserted that fostering learning is a shared responsibility between the instructor and student. Social constructivism holds that the relationship between educator and student relies on guidance instead of instruction and asserts that learners are co-constructors of knowledge. 

      Constructivism is functional in pedagogy because it allows learners to personalize the course material by synthesizing the new subject matter with previous and current professional experience. As an educator using constructivism as a primary approach to foster learning, I value and champion personal viewpoints and beliefs in the classroom. I encourage differing thoughts and opinions and insist the classroom is a safe space for dialogue and discourse, with the ultimate goal of achieving a mutual understanding of individual experiences with the curriculum. As an educator, I know that taking this approach in the classroom creates a space in which understanding and knowledge are a collective process. I also model practical skills of approaching resolution of disagreement and conflict by engaging in healthy dialogue and discussion.

The Learning Environment

      I believe that the practice of multicultural competence begins in the classroom. An educator who incorporates cultural intersectionality into the classroom creates a space for fostering cultural competence and cultural humility. Because of this, I work to honor students' cultural intersectionality and incorporate personal identities in the learning environment. 

      Because I ground my philosophical stance on teaching in the belief that each person understands knowledge in different ways, I also believe that there is more than one method of effective teaching and retention of course material. As an educator, I intend to engage with multiple forms of instruction to meet the needs of a diverse learning body. While a lecture is an efficient method to communicate information and is a tool that I use, I also value creating a dynamic learning environment. I believe in active learning, including discussions, activities, reflection, and group work, because active learning helps students make connections between what they experience in class and knowledge previously obtained elsewhere. Active learning environments provide flexibility and variety, encourage autonomy and independence, and promote collaboration between peers, which is beneficial to learning new material and healthy relationship building. 

      I believe that assessment of a student's understanding does not only exist to assign a grade value but also confirm that the student has achieved the learning objectives outlined in the course syllabus and engages in a shared understanding of the course material. Because I recognize that the learning environment consists of a diverse body of students, all with different needs, I aim to use many other methods of assessment with hopes to view how learning has occurred from multiple perspectives. In my teaching approach, I value activities, discussions, projects, written assignments, oral presentations, and exams to measure student growth. 

  constructivism's productive approach and encourages an individual's unique understanding of reality.