Teaching Statement
My primary goal as a philosophy instructor is to, well, teach you philosophy. What distinguishes me from other instructors is the way in which I teach philosophy. Here are four distinguishing characteristics of my teaching style.
Discussion as a way of teaching.
Discussion is not simply "talking in class." Discussion means: being prepared to discuss, actively listening to others, clearly stating your opinion, being capable of fruitful conversation despite disagreement, and so on. I design activities that encourage these skills and means of assessment that track the development of these skills.
Competence over coverage.
Instead of attempting to cover everything - everything in the textbook, every important philosophical view and figure, every detail of every paper - I aim for students to become fully competent in a few things. To this end, my classes have fewer readings and they move at a slower pace.
Autonomy of learning.
My goal is to facilitate your learning. I give students the ability to make decisions about how, exactly, they want to learn. So I am flexible about attendance, deadlines, and other traditionally rigid/punitive features of college courses. This autonomy can be liberating or dangerous, depending on how students use it.
Thinking beyond the canon.
There is no doubt that the canonical works of philosophy are important. However, I do not value the canon over everything, like considerations of relevance and diversity. To this end,I sometimes assign readings that are likely to speak to the cultural contexts of students. I also include the work of minority and/or marginalized voices.
Discussion as a way of teaching.
Discussion is not simply "talking in class." Discussion means: being prepared to discuss, actively listening to others, clearly stating your opinion, being capable of fruitful conversation despite disagreement, and so on. I design activities that encourage these skills and means of assessment that track the development of these skills.
Competence over coverage.
Instead of attempting to cover everything - everything in the textbook, every important philosophical view and figure, every detail of every paper - I aim for students to become fully competent in a few things. To this end, my classes have fewer readings and they move at a slower pace.
Autonomy of learning.
My goal is to facilitate your learning. I give students the ability to make decisions about how, exactly, they want to learn. So I am flexible about attendance, deadlines, and other traditionally rigid/punitive features of college courses. This autonomy can be liberating or dangerous, depending on how students use it.
Thinking beyond the canon.
There is no doubt that the canonical works of philosophy are important. However, I do not value the canon over everything, like considerations of relevance and diversity. To this end,I sometimes assign readings that are likely to speak to the cultural contexts of students. I also include the work of minority and/or marginalized voices.
Teaching Experience
At NCSU, I generally teach the following courses:
I have also taught PHI 210: Reason, Representation, and Reality. (A paradoxes course.)
I've been a teaching assistant for the following courses at MIT.
- LOG 201: Introduction to Logic
- LOG 335: Symbolic Logic (Intermediate Logic)
- LOG 430/530: Varieties of Logic (Non-Classical Logic)
- PHI 331: Philosophy of Language
I have also taught PHI 210: Reason, Representation, and Reality. (A paradoxes course.)
I've been a teaching assistant for the following courses at MIT.