TEACHING STATEMENT

I agree with the Scottish philosopher James Beattie: “The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think.” Society values communication highly, and it is my charge to teach communication skills—written, oral, multimodal—to my students. No matter at what level my students begin, I want them to realize that we all have communication in common, and that we must constantly monitor our communication practices. Moreover, we all have something different to offer each other. My classes allow me to teach ideas that we cherish—those that are sometimes the most difficult to teach in the classroom: compassion, social justice, and risk-taking. Communication inherently links these values. Learning activities and assignments support the relationship between communication and values. The time students spend in practice or participation provides learning experiences that they can steadfastly apply in the classroom. More importantly, they can apply these learning experiences to their lives outside the classroom.  

I want my students to understand that we are all products of relationships with each other in our various embodied lives. Accordingly, I align my teaching practices with critical constructivism, a pedagogical and epistemological theory that has both practical and emancipatory dimensions (Taylor, Fraser, & Fisher, 1997). In the practical mode, critical constructivism supports a learning environment in which students use classroom activities to create meaning from their worlds through communication and to question the social systems in which we live. These activities lead to mutual understanding and respect that can only occur in a setting in which students feel comfortable in expressing themselves without fear of judgment, from their peers or from me. Through my classroom activities, I strive to create a compassionate and understanding classroom environment. One of the objectives of rhetoric is that we should view situations from the perspectives of others if we are to comprehend their actions. Some of the worst disagreements I have witnessed occurred because two people wanted the same outcome, but neither person could understand the other’s way of communicating that information. 

The emancipatory mode of critical constructivism acknowledges that some of the very institutions that create the classroom situation also create ideological structures that seek to control communication through the perpetuation of norms that may not support an open and thoughtful society. Thus, part of my duty is to encourage my students to question and thoughtfully engage in the discussion of social power structures and those structures’ roles in maintaining, advancing, or stifling the communication process that defines human interaction. For example, my classes have begun to create their own rubrics for assignments. This process in meta-discourse not only gives power to students but also deepens their understanding of the grading process, leading to increased achievement.

We seek to balance the issue of power in society with our ideas about social justice. I often say that I prepare students to be good judges as much as I prepare them to be good communicators. We make many important, subjective decisions in our daily lives. My classroom activities compel my students to examine their own decisions frequently. They think about what they could have done differently in the rhetorical context to change the outcome, and they realize when they have achieved their goals using their full capabilities. Ultimately, we must make decisions that will be good for our families, the world, and ourselves. In searching for this balance, we must have the knowledge to decide what is fair to all parties involved—and to be compassionate when the fairness cannot involve perfect equality. I attempt to create classroom activities that reflect this need.

In advocating for social justice, we must take risks because frequently people are not compassionate enough. They force us to stand apart—to risk looking foolish, or to risk our own lives—to communicate the agenda that will lead to a better life for everyone. My students know that taking communication risks, as history has shown us, is the only way to guarantee social progress. It is my hope that I facilitate thought in my classes that my students will use to further this cause.. To this end, I encourage my students to take risks in class discussions and assignments.

To create the context of acceptable risk taking, I often give open-ended assignments, negotiate the final product with individual students, and evaluate as much on the effort and creation process as the final product. As Becky Rickly is fond of saying, research is messy. I would extend this idea to any classroom communication event. Recently I taught an advanced essay-writing course in which my students explored the theme of place. We used literal and metaphorical definitions that evolved substantially in the traditional forms of written assignments. However, in the multimedia assignment, I knew from the introductory reflection essays that I would encounter many levels of literacy—and I did. I held substantive individual meetings with students to assess their comfort levels and encouraged them to develop their skills beyond their comfort levels. The concluding reflection essays on the multimedia project supported my strategy. Though I knew some of the products were not as polished as others, I understood the progress that my students had made during the semester. They all took risks, whether it was to use a voice-over on PowerPoint for the first time, or to develop a multi-layered website specifically for the course.

Some of my favorite assignments are the reflection essays that I ask my students to write at the beginning of a course and after major assignments. As Kathleen Blake Yancey (1998) suggests, I want to know where they have been and where they are going. However, more importantly, I want them to know. And writing about their past experiences and future goals helps them in the course as much as it helps me. In post-assignment reflections, I expressly ask them to talk about their failures and what they would do differently in future circumstances. Ultimately, assignments are not about students receiving a grade.  Instead, these activities are about students refining their abilities to be good people. I am proud to be a part of the process.

References

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Taylor, P. C., Fraser, B. J., & Fisher, D. L. (1997). Monitoring constructivist classroom learning environments. International Journal of Educational Research, 27(4), 293–302. 

Yancey, K. B. (1998). Reflection in the writing classroom. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.