My teaching philosophy and pedagogical methods are founded on a holistic view of education, that aims to help students develop critical thinking, the ability to communicate effectively, to innovate and solve problems through collaboration, and to ultimately encourage a lifelong curiosity and interest in learning. My approach has formed through teaching introductory and advanced courses in International Relations, Comparative Politics, and American Politics, with diverse groups of students both at the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. I teach courses which build on foundational texts in the disciplinary canons, as well as courses which incorporate a multidisciplinary approach to contemporary issues in global politics.

We start from inquiry-based approaches, wherein students are posed questions, scenarios, or problems. Especially in this technological age where they grew up with a plethora of knowledge at their fingertips, I have found that students flourish with inquisitive learning approaches, wherein they are intrinsically motivated by curiosity. I incorporate cooperative and experiential learning, and greatly value diversity and inclusion in the classroom. Cooperative approaches use active participatory learning, which allows students to work as part of a student-led team that empower them to share, analyze, and reflect, enhancing their grasp of the material. I value experiential learning, wherein students use their personal experience and emotional responses to reflect and respond to the material, often relating this to their own circumstances. I believe that students learn best with self-motivated approaches, when they can piece together the materials and discover how they connect.

My assignments follow this theoretical approach, to encourage self-reflection and self-study as well as collaborative work in the classroom. I am interested in students connecting the dots, understanding the big picture as well as nuance, and not just rote memorization, so I often incorporate open-note essay exams where students are asked to reflect on prompts that address the semester’s main themes, and case studies that students work on semester-long to study a complex topic in more depth.

For example, one of my favorite case studies to cover when teaching International Political Economy (Introduction to International Relations INR 2001) is the development of the multi-billion-dollar chocolate industry. By tracing the development of this single commodity, students glean information about the history of imperialism, the enduring political structures of colonialism, the economic roots of conflict, and the spectrum of political actors, from indentured worker to company CEO. I have students break into groups to cover select chapters of the text, working together to outline the main ideas to present to the class. Students often build on their chapter’s topic for their term research papers. Every semester there are different directions in which the students decide to go—from the child slavery of the cocoa fields to the “geopolitics of a Hershey’s Kiss”; they build narratives that help them understand the theories from their own vantage points, and realize that global politics is relevant and personal. This approach allows for a more organic and exploratory method of research, which mirrors the way that curiosity can motivate us to investigate.

One of my goals as an educator in political science is to give students a more nuanced understanding of issues in global politics. These subjects are complex, and often require a longer historical and cultural lens to grasp. For example, before beginning a section on international security in the Middle East, I provide a short overview on the region. We cover the history of the Islamic Golden Age, the differences between Shia and Sunni, and the roles that the West has played in the region in the modern day. Not only is this important to learn as nearly a quarter of the earth’s population is Muslim, but this historical and cultural knowledge is necessary in better understanding post-9/11 relations, anti-American sentiment, and the implications of Middle East foreign policy. It enables students to view international terrorism on a completely different level—as one actor of many on a long and varied stage. My approach to teaching is to help students welcome the grey zones—to appreciate the complexity of sociopolitical and economic issues. I also aim to ground course content in real lived experience. For example, I utilize documentaries and primary source historical documents in my introductory course on American politics (American Government POS 2041). When I teach about the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, my students listen to interviews from individuals who participated in the bus boycotts, they compare extensive Red Lining maps which carved out the ghettos to maps of gerrymandering and underperforming school districts. I help them build a historical understanding of structural racism—from the original discriminatory laws to the entrenched racial biases in society today. In my Eastern European Politics (CPO 3614/EUS 3930) course, we learn about the important historical and political moments, but also learn what life was like for average people during and after communism—the politics of the everyday. We study the 1989 revolutions and the sweeping economic reforms, but also learn about consumption in socialist Yugoslavia with the evolution of cookbooks at the time, or material culture through Polish fashion magazines in the 1950s.

I am dedicated to inclusion and diversity, both inside and outside of the classroom. I work hard to accommodate different learning styles and address challenges that students may have. I found that teaching at both the University of Florida and at the local community college, Santa Fe College has given me an insight into different student populations. Students came from widely different socioeconomic backgrounds, with varying levels of training in research and writing. This taught me to be receptive, flexible, and innovative in my approach to teaching. I view mentorship as a cornerstone of the position, and work to be a resource for my students.

Both in my research and in my approach to teaching, I employ a feminist approach to challenge the status quo. I encourage my students to ask questions: what issues are important? Whose lives are relevant? Ultimately, my aim is to encourage my students to become more self-aware, to foster a sense of empathy and openness. This can help highlight our capacities for change, both in ourselves and within our world.