As a teacher of psychology, I have three goals: To impart the ability to think empirically – to appreciate the value of science and the scientific approach to understanding human behavior; to ‘do’ psychology – to consume empirical works and critically analyze them; and to contribute to psychology – to write papers and make presentations that address important questions in psychology. Psychology has the reputation of being touchy and feely; I aim to show students that psychology is a science and that they have the ability to question and change things through the consumption, understanding and application of scientific literature. Exposure to research is an integral part of my curriculum because I believe that the comprehension of the findings, methods and research design used is a vital component to fully understand the course material. My classes center not only on conveying factual knowledge through the use of textbooks, but I see myself as a messenger who is reporting to my students from the field. Consequently, my lectures have a strong component of a) discussing the newest findings in psychology, with the understanding that some things that are facts today may be fiction tomorrow, and b) the methods and designs with which the knowledge was acquired and honed, using both primary sources such as easy-to-understand research papers and media resources.

I particularly strive to motivate students who are not psychology majors and who take my class to fulfill a general requirement. The challenge is to excite them about the subject by incorporating their existing knowledge and experience. By breaking up dense lectures through frequent buzz session in which students briefly discuss a problem in groups of three to five and then report back to the class, incorporating student led discussions, and assigning brief in-class papers, I aim to further students’ understanding of the course content, writing proficiency, and excitement about the scientific process. Using their feedback, I promote and evaluate student learning and are able to make the appropriate changes to my curriculum and teaching methods. Furthermore, oral and written assignments allow me to understand how students’ critical thought process and appreciation of course content develops, based on which I can chose to either move more rapidly through course content or revisit certain concepts. In addition to adjusting my teaching style in response to student feedback to improve students’ learning experience, I continually seek to refine my skills by asking feedback from experienced teachers and supervisors and attending teaching workshops. As a result, I have made changes to both how I teach classes and I how I evaluate student’s performance.