Teaching
Overview
Teaching, to me, is much more than a career obligation, but a lifelong passion to foster and advance the next generation of public service leaders. As an instructor, I find ways to ground course activities in experience. I use a combination of new and traditional teaching strategies, from group projects and fieldwork assignments to essays, quizzes, and other collaborative group activities. The field assignments are inspired by experiential learning, where the goal is to get students out in the community while also assessing what they have learned and can connect from the course material. Similarly, for in-class strategies, I incorporate games and simulation-based activities that assess the students’ critical thinking and application of course material in creative ways. My goal is to both help students build practical skills but also to help ground their lessons in practical issues concerning the field and its future.​​​
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Philosophy
My teaching philosophy draws from educational psychology research on the need to foster and develop growth-oriented mindsets. Specifically, Carol Dweck (2006) argues that a growth-oriented mind is driven by beliefs that intelligence and abilities are not ‘fixed’ traits. She argues that fixed mindsets pose a danger to learning, as humans are cognitively conditioned to correlate what is ‘wrong’ or incorrect with what is ‘bad.’ Dweck further argues that traditional pedagogy tends to reinforce the fixed mindset through feedback (or lack thereof) as well as through praising or harshly criticizing students. Fostering a growth-oriented environment is difficult and require conscious and deliberate effort, but when successful, students will be able to see challenges and mistakes as opportunities for improvement. To operationalize this, my grading philosophy is set on high expectations and low risk, so that students feel safe to take risks and push their own beliefs and abilities. The ultimate goal of each course I teach is to help students find passion in one or more aspects of public administration and to instill values of continuous improvement–both in and outside the classroom. Primarily, to help students be introspective, informed, and actively engaged.
Courses Taught
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Lead Instructor
As lead instructor, my primary responsibility is to oversee the course instruction and curricula of an introductory public administration course (Public Administration in American Society). In this role, I typically aid four other course instructors on their instructional methods and course designs for in-person and online modalities. In addition to assistance with typical activities associated with instructional and student matters, I assist the instructors with course alignment and reporting of university core (ethics) requirements. My responsibilities in this role are an addition to my concurrent requirements as an instructor for PAD 3003.
Teaching Record
PAD 3003, Public Admin in American Society: 180 students, Fall 2024 (A)
--------------------------------------------------------- 6 students, Fall 2024 (B)
--------------------------------------------------------- 3 students, Fall 2024 (C)
Course TA: Dr. Meri Hovsepyan
Course TA: Anthony Lucchesi
Instructor
In my role as instructor, my primary obligations are overseeing three course sections of an undergraduate introductory public administration course (PAD 3003: Public Administration in American Society). In this role, I oversee the primary online PAD 3003 course offered on the Tallahassee campus as well as two other sections offered in Panama City, Florida as well as the District of Panama.
Teaching Record
PAD 3003: Public Admin in American Society, 153 students, Summer 2024 (A)
---------------------------------------------------------5 students, Summer 2024 (B)
---------------------------------------------------------2 students, Summer 2024 (C)
Course TA: Dr. Jeongwha Yang
PAD 3003: Public Admin in American Society, 180 students, Spring 2024 (A)
---------------------------------------------------------8 students, Spring 2024 (B)
---------------------------------------------------------3 students, Spring 2024 (C)
Course TA: Alexis Roberson
PAD 3003: Public Admin in American Society, 178 students, Fall 2023 (A)
--------------------------------------------------------- 4 students, Fall 2023 (B)
--------------------------------------------------------- 4 students, Fall 2023 (C)
Course TA: Alexis Roberson
PAD 3003: Public Admin in American Society, 170 students, Summer 2023 (A)
--------------------------------------------------------- 6 students, Summer 2023 (B)
--------------------------------------------------------- 1 student, Summer 2023 (C)
Course TA: Alexis Roberson
Graduate Teaching Assistant
My primary responsibility in this role was to assist in reviewing and grading course work as well as in aiding the instructor on various tasks associated with day-to-day instructional or course-related activities.
TA Record
PAD 5935-0008, Seminar in Public Administration, 4 students, Fall 2022
Course Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Bell
PAD 5121-0001, Managing Florida Government, 44 students, Fall 2021
-------------------- Managing Florida Government, 47 students, Spring 2022
Course Instructor: Dr. Gary VanLandingham
PAD 6908-0001, Capstone Project, 61 students, Fall 2022
-------------------- Capstone Project, 34 students, Summer 2022
Course Instructor: Dr. Gary VanLandingham
Teaching Public Service
Below are some highlights from this past year from a few of the many exceptional students I've led. The images depict students attending a local government meeting as part of their city/county commission field assignments. As extra credit, students had the opportunity of submitting evidence of live, in-person attendance. The evidence, however, could be of their choosing. Here are some exceptional student highlights:
