Teaching Philosophy

The kind of learning that I have found makes the most difference in the classroom—as well as in my own learning journey—has been moments where learning was dialogic, experiential, and explorative. My constructivist approach to teaching as an instructor of journalism and media aims to not only educate the next generation of journalists and creatives in media production skills. Ultimately, I aim to give students the knowledge, space, and support to build their own conception of their role as journalists, develop an aptitude for bridge-building and problem-solving, and dare to both fail and succeed through iterative experimentation. I bring these philosophies into my classes through experiential learning, dialogic thinking, and iterative experimentation.

Bringing Community to the Classroom

Direct experience is the best teacher. Through the cycle of abstraction, observation, experience, and experimentation (Kolb, 1984), learners can map their learning process on their own experiences. The nature of journalism is to learn by doing. By engaging with students as junior journalists, rather than as naïve learners, they can practice their future careers in a grounding environment where their peers learn and grow in their craft alongside each other. Additionally, connecting pedagogy with the community outside the classroom both builds bridges between academia and said communities and helps to fill the growing void in local journalism.

Critical Thinking through Dialogue

Closely related to experiential learning is dialogic learning. Ideas are not stagnant. They are amorphous and evolve as they bump up against the ideas of others. Co-construction of meaning happens when learners feel that they are in an invested, supportive, and collaborative environment. Discussion facilitates personal expression, builds confidence, promotes empathy, and develops critical thinking skills (Flecha, 2000).

Daring to Fail with Iterative Experimentation

Informed by the design thinking movement developed in the 1960s, iteration and experimentation are inherent to the upper-level competencies of Bloom’s taxonomy.  In order to effectively analyze, evaluate, and create, students need to feel safe and confident in having the opportunity to try and try again until they succeed.

Teaching is not just a process of generating knowledge for knowledge’s sake; it is a liberatory act that opens a window to a more hopeful future. As bell hooks writes in Teaching Community, “When we only name the problem, when we state complaint without a constructive focus or resolution, we take hope away.” Journalism holds an especially salient place in higher education. Journalism education offers students the opportunity to directly connect what they are learning in the classroom with what they deeply care about outside of academia. As a journalism instructor, I bring this understanding into my classroom to show future journalists and media creators that their work has meaning.

My teaching philosophy is heavily informed by bell hook’s Teaching Community, Alyssa Hadley Dunn’s Teaching on Days After, and Duncan McCue’s Decolonizing Journalism.

Teaching Experience