Teaching

Teaching Philosophy

• My philosophy for teaching graduate courses in Educational Leadership revolves around the importance of integrating theory and practice (Jarvis, 1999). Aligning with the Center for Education’s (CfE) goal of developing “professional expertise as educators and leaders” and valuing academic excellence as outlined in its conceptual framework, our graduate program in educational leadership needs to be grounded in research and theory related to students' particular areas of study and provide opportunities for students to apply that research and theory to practice. Understanding this process of relating theory to practice is essential to critically integrating theoretical and practical knowledge as students develop a personal theory of practice. In addition, as doctoral students and leaders in education, our students must also be prepared to share their experience and knowledge in a manner that contributes to the field, thus fulfilling the model of excellent scholar-practitioners who bridge research and practice.

• In my teaching, and also in alignment with our Center's value of collaboration, I draw heavily on my research in developing collaborative inquiry communities within my class spaces, both online and in the classroom. Specifically, I intentionally develop the group of students in each of my classes into a community of learners (Grossman et al., 2001; Niess & Gillow-Wiles, 2017). I build a space where it is safe and acceptable to be vulnerable, take risks, and share questions. Also, acknowledging that our students bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, I create opportunities for them to share their expertise and learn from each other.