Teaching Philosophy

My teaching career centers on giving students from all disciplines a meaningful and practical experience while they study human communication in its various guises. For over six years, I have taught media studies, qualitative communication studies, and critical writing. In addition to my practical experience in the classroom, I independently research pedagogic theory and instructional design in order to continue developing my teaching skills. This allows me to be adaptable and meet challenges, including the abrupt transition to eLearning during the COVID-19 crisis. While the topics I teach change, my goals for students remain consistent. The fact that I regularly teach courses that are required and/or serve an eclectic mix of majors influences my teaching philosophy. I make sure that the courses I teach develop skills that will benefit students in their undergraduate, post-graduate, and professional endeavors. The attention needed for close readings, the craft of constructing compelling arguments, and the ability to look at a topic from different perspectives are assets in all fields.

In any class I teach, I facilitate students’ success and development in three key ways. I gauge my students’ interests and knowledge in order to ensure that the material is relevant for them, thereby increasing their engagement. I provide an organized and well-structured experience that can still respond to the needs of individual classes. Finally, I establish an inclusive classroom environment that encourages participation from many students.

Emphasizing the practical application of course content is essential for getting students to invest in their own learning. Teaching a mandatory Intro to Cinema class in USC’s production-centric department meant helping students understand how critical analysis, history and theory, and media literacy applies to filmmaking. I drew upon my research into production culture and my own production training in order to clarify these connections. In addition to my work in the classroom, I encouraged students to share their work with me during office hours. After watching their shorts, we discussed why they constructed their films the way they did. They recognized how class concepts manifested in their work and the works that inspired them. They realized how the course could help them articulate their intentions to a crew. Finally, these meetings built a rapport that resulted in greater class participation. 

In evaluations, students frequently praise the clear structure of my lessons, as well as my use of multimedia aids to explain difficult or abstract concepts. When given a supervisory role as a graduate student, I ensured that these were consistent features across sections. Previously, I had only worked in classrooms of 20-25 students. Being Lead TA for some of USC’s largest film courses meant handling the administrative duties necessary to support over 650 undergraduates. I went from teaching groups of twenty to supervising and mentoring an equivalent number of graduate TAs, several of whom were first-time instructors. I sat in on these TAs’ classes to offer feedback on their teaching methods. To aid my team, as well as future instructors, I turned my own lesson plans into annotated templates that I shared with the department. These templates included alternate exercise suggestions, allowing TAs to tailor the material to their sensibilities and students. I also created a digital library of PowerPoints and illustrative clips from which TAs could draw. This ability to think of multiple possible strategies for teaching material helps me ensure that I am always meeting the needs of students, rather than going on autopilot and sticking to pre-determined lesson plans.

I incorporate relevant real-world topics into all of my classes, and this includes addressing identity issues. In my media studies courses, I showcase texts by a diverse roster of artists. However, studying media requires confronting how many groups are ignored or stereotyped. In USC’s Intro to Cinema, the professor illustrated a lecture on genre by screening High Sierra (1941), which features minstrel comedian Willie Best. In response, I made time in my discussion section to address this element. First, I provided my students with biographical details about Best in order to restore the performer’s humanity. We then discussed how his character fit into the history of cinematic representation and why that subject matters in film studies. It is important to confront uncomfortable truths about society in a direct but sensitive manner. The classroom should be an environment where harsh realities can be acknowledged and addressed, and a better way forward imagined and articulated.