Most of my life centers around teaching.
I’m a full-time teaching consultant, supporting all sorts of university instructors in developing an effective and sustainable pedagogy. I’m a philosophy instructor, previously faculty at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, teaching primarily ethics but also mathematical logic and computation. I’m a writer, which I think is deeply related to teaching, even when I’m not writing about teaching itself.
My teaching style is energetic and engaged. I use both innovative and time-honored teaching methods to create experiences for students. Because learning happens from the interaction of students and their experiences, my job is to make those experiences rich and flexible. Whether that’s simply holding space for discussion or leading field trips outside the classroom to encounter local ecology, I create opportunities for students to grow in their own way. I use assessment methods that avoid some drawbacks of traditional grading, as I hope to foster and maintain student intrinsic motivation.
I’m new to writing for a public audience, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to learn by writing. I do not think my blog writing is particularly expert yet. But you have to be bad at something before you can get good at something!