Based upon my work in K-12 schools in the 1900's and
my work in post-secondary teacher education over the
past six years I believe the best teaching and learning
take place in a classroom environment that encourages
each student to push the boundaries of his or her current
understanding by taking part in personally meaningful
learning experiences. I strive to strike a balance between
making sure all of my students walk away from a course
with a set of common understandings (e.g. through lectures,
required reading, group discussions, etc.) and allowing
them to pursue questions of their own interest (e.g.
through individual and group inquiry/research projects)
To achieve this balance I incorporate elements of both
a student-and teacher centered pedagogy into my classroom
instructional practices.
I strive to connect my teaching to my scholarship,
and service work through some unifying themes. First,
as a caring intellectual I am always committed to doing
the best job I possibly can no matter what the task.
Second, I have increasingly taken the insights from
the scholarship I do in the field of social studies
and science education and connected it to my own teaching
practices and my service work. For example, one area
that my scholarship has increasingly focused on is the
topic of students' epistemology (i.e. their understanding
of what knowledge is and how knowledge is acquired).
My scholarship in this area has helped me improve my
teaching by getting me to focus more on helping my students
to reflect on their own knowledge acquisition processes.
It has also helped in my service work by getting me
to really appreciate the various epistemological stances
my colleagues from around the university take when they
submit teaching and research proposals to the Faculty
Development Board upon which I serve.
Date of First Employment
at UW Oshkosh: September 2000
Years of P-12 Experience: 2 Years teaching
in the Philadelphia PA public schools (secondary level)
3 Years teaching/supervising experience in the Nashville,
TN public schools (middle and secondary)