Teaching communication could not be more important in the twenty first century.  College graduates are expected to enter today’s workforce as effective communicators.  Therefore, I see my role in the classroom paramount in leading students through specific knowledge and practice of effective communication. This includes informing and demonstrating how competent communication works, and providing a context for students to practice sending and receiving messages in a variety of situations.  As a practitioner of the discipline, I ask students to become “communication scientists” and to take notice of the daily interactions between people.  If you’re enrolled in my class you can expect to study, reflect, and deeply consider people’s everyday communication choices, ultimately to prepare each student for life beyond the college classroom. 

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I believe all effective communication starts from within the person, and therefore, integral to my teaching philosophy is self-awareness.  Every day I bring a metaphorical mirror for my students to hold up and to take a closer examination of self and their own everyday communication choices.  When fostering self-awareness, I believe it is my responsibility to create a trusting, honest, and confidential classroom, so student feel comfortable sharing their own vulnerabilities. Creating this type of classroom environment requires careful and constant attention. Through this comforting environment students begin to reflect and share their own strengths and challenges as communicators in hopes to create changes of becoming more effective in their own everyday lives. I use a variety of self-tests specific to communication to facilitate this reflection and to dig into how our choices can lead to miscommunication. Through this process, my goal is for students to leave more prepared to conquer the complicated nature of communication in school, work, and in their personal relationships.

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Today’s learners’ demand the use of educational technology and U.D.L. (Universally Designed Learning).  Students want ease of access to the information and empowering choices throughout the learning process. My teaching style honors and embraces the rapidly evolving world of educational technology and Universal Design. I work tirelessly to keep up with the trends in technology and best practices for my courses in hopes to create the best possible learning environment. Furthermore, teaching today’s generation about their digital footprint and effective communication choices using social media is vital to learning sound communication. We cannot escape technology as an everyday communication tool, and I believe in teaching and modeling best practices, using a wide variety of technology. 
 
Building trust and understanding helps me create the most accessible learning environment for diverse student profiles. A consistent theme throughout my student evaluations is that I am an empathetic person who cares about the needs of each student. I often refer to my assignments as a “buffet for learners,” allowing students to choose what they want based on their own learning style and needs. This can include writing papers, taking a test, or creating their own project to represent their learning. I believe this philosophy is a helpful for the many students who manage high anxiety and creates a clear pathway for learning. This universally designed approach allows students to engage in course ideas according to their personal academic strengths, and I believe fosters high quality outcomes for each individual.

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Although I teach a variety of classes, the structure of each individual class remains relatively static. I always start each class with the student voice and a mindfulness activity.  Mindfulness to me, involves leading my students through a rhythmed breathing exercise, providing a few moments to focus breathing, self-reflection, and relaxation.  Next, a check in, answering questions, and discussing the independent work and reading, and any questions about the course.  I encourage students to bring in their own questions and curiosity about the reading and assignments. This philosophy creates a socially constructed classroom by all present, and empowers students to take an active role in creating the success of each class.  My role is to be clear about the objectives of each class and to keep the group on track in meeting those goals. This style of teaching empowers each member to ask questions, discuss ideas, problem solve, and ultimately to communicate!  

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My strategy of opening class usually seamlessly transitions into me leading an interactive lecture on specific ideas that meet course objectives. I enjoy using a questioning techniques that get students accounting for their own understanding and subsequently interacting with others to discuss and debate understanding.  My classes always contain an activity that involves face to face interaction in both small groups and partners.  These include case studies, role playing, presentations, self-tests, and more.  The goal of all these activities are to put into practice real life communication situations. Reflection of strengths and challenges within the activity is critical in increasing self-awareness. To end, I recap our daily accomplishments, ground students in the purpose of their work, and attempt to create connections between the class and the everyday communication. Clearly, my classroom setting is about empowering students to speak, listen and engage with others and ultimately allow all members to take ownership of the class time.

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Due to the active nature of my classes, and the open honest environment I strive to build with all members, students are often very honest with me about how they are feeling about assignments, the work load, and my expectations.  There are also many moments students push back on my demands, and I encourage and foster these types of dialogue. When students push back, I need to model effective communication and engage with students to co-create shared understanding and purpose of the work. At times students push back regarding the high level of classroom interactivity due to their own low willingness to communicate.  However, I feel it is these very same students who need the push to practice communication with others and to overcome their own lack of motivation to interact. All of my classes are action oriented and always contain elements of learning and practicing sound communication.    

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My curiosity about teaching effectiveness never seems to fade, and I am constantly striving to improve how I approach my classes.  This thirst for improvement requires investing significant time in professional development and talking with my peers about pedagogy.  I see great benefit in attending teaching conferences and I continually surround myself with fellow teachers. I love to “talk shop” with my colleagues, and not coincidentally my closest friends are all educators! These contexts allow me to continuously discover the meaning of good teaching.  I also seem to endlessly reflect on my own approaches and continually revise, rework, and improve how I approach the profession, and who I am as a teacher.  This part of my philosophy keeps me fresh and on a teaching track of continual lifelong improvement.