Teaching Narrative
In the classroom, I aim to: (a) cultivate an inclusive classroom environment, (b) develop opportunities for students to engage in professional/career simulations, and (c) individualize learning based on students’ academic and career interests). These principles guide my day-to-day classroom activities, I will describe three interrelated principles which support these aims. These principles are those which privilege student: (a) autonomy, meaning choice, the endorsement of behavior, and a sense of ownership over the learning process; (b) competence, meaning a sense of mastery and ability to perform skills; and (c) relatedness, meaning a sense of connection between students in the course, between myself and the students, and between students and the course content. These principles are derived from Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (herein IMPACT), a course design system for foundational courses which is based upon self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2017). An IMPACT course is one which creates a student-centered learning environment that promotes student engagement and reduces rates of course failure and withdrawal (Purdue University, 2018).
It is important to note that all three of these principles work in tandem to support the aims of the teaching philosophy. For instance, principles of relatedness and autonomy enable students to discuss and analyze the communication issues which affect their lives and also encourage me to make course content relatable to the diverse groups of students I teach. The principles of autonomy and competence together form the basis for the career simulation activities which I lead (outlined in the teaching philosophy). Students individually prepare to participate and are then engaged in a guided evaluation to hone and develop a competence in communication “soft” skills over time.
Although these three principles are interrelated, for the sake of clarity, I will next describe the ways in which my courses promote these three IMPACT principles individually. Given that SPC3301: Interpersonal Communication is the first course that I have fully designed, most of my examples will come from this course.
Autonomy
First, my classroom is one that supports and encourages student autonomy. Upon entering my classroom, you will notice that my classroom is a “flipped” classroom, whereby students spend the majority of the class period leading discussion and/or participating in activities in pairs or small groups. In contrast to the traditional lecture model of the college course, students are engaged from the moment they enter my classroom, as their participation is essential for moving the class forward. This creates a sense of investment in the learning process. Students are not only necessary for making the lesson work, students themselves become the lesson. For example, an activity in my SPC2608: Public Speaking course (which is also the “Video Demonstration” included on this website) designed to teach audience analysis, the process of adapting messages to meet the needs of the receiver or receiving audience, begins with a brief discussion to reinforce types of audience analysis. Then, students are broken up into groups and told that they will be developing a commercial to encourage viewers to go to a fictional restaurant that they will make up. I then secretly assign each group an audience (e.g., college students, parents with young children, etc.), and students are required to create a commercial which targets the secret audience. The other groups then watch the commercial and are required to guess the audience that is being targeted. We discuss the strengths and limitations of the choices students make in adapting the commercial to the needs of the particular audience. This orientation to lesson planning supports the student aim of autonomy.
Competence
Second, my classroom is one that provides ample opportunity for students to demonstrate competence in content mastery. Upon entering my classroom, you will notice that students complete weekly quizzes to assess the comprehension of reading material instead of culminating exams. These weekly quizzes provide students with the opportunity for feedback about their progress in a lower-stakes environment. Major assignments also involve multiple low-stakes touchpoints at which I provide extensive feedback on submitted assignment components. For example, for the final project in my SPC3301: Interpersonal Communication course, students are required to complete two 20-minute interviews with willing participants, conduct qualitative data analysis, and write a 5-8 page research paper to examine how a series of interpersonal communication concepts and theories apply in their relationships with others. The skills required to complete this assignment are built over a series of activities and workshops held throughout the semester. Prior to the submission of the final research paper, students receive detailed feedback from me four separate times on various assignment components and have the opportunity to schedule a one-on-one conference with me during our last scheduled class to address any final questions that they may have. Having optional in-class conferences at the end of the semester reduces barriers for my many students who have families or work full-time jobs who are unable to dedicate additional time outside of our class period to meet with me. During each of these phases, areas of strength are outlined in addition to several actionable areas for improvement. These multiple points of feedback allow students to incrementally develop perceptions of competency over required assignment components.
Relatedness
Finally, my classroom facilitates an atmosphere of collegiality and encourages students to relate course content to their own interpersonal relationships, the media they consume, and their future career roles.
I work to create a sense of relatedness between students from the very first day of class. For example, on the first day of the semester I ask students to participate in a series of “games” to memorize the names of the other students in the course. I also ask students to introduce themselves to the person sitting next to them and exchange the contact information they feel comfortable with (e.g., USF email addresses, Snapchat handles, phone numbers) so that students have a “buddy” to whom to ask questions in a low-stakes environment. This is commonly referred to as a “one before me,” someone that students may feel more comfortable contacting before reaching out to the instructor, particularly for small questions which other students are likely able to answer. By the time students leave my class on the first day, they have at least one friend and know the names of the other students in the course. I also have all student names memorized by the end of the first week.
I also work to create a sense of relatedness between myself and my students. I arrive to class approximately 30 minutes early each day and greet students as they enter the classroom. I play music prior to the start of class, and I often solicit a list of student recommendations for their favorite songs or a song that they are listening to right now. These songs then become a playlist that plays at the start of class every class throughout the semester. In another example, in SPC2608: Public Speaking, I ask students to participate in a “photo impromptu activity” in which they send me a photo each of: (a) someone that they care about, (b) a photo of them in a place that they love, and (c) a photo of them doing something they love. Students always submit photos of a variety of loved ones, talk about favorite places both near and far, and a explain a variety of hobbies. These photos are then used in speaking exercises in which students learn about giving formal presentations with a projected visual aid. This assignment serves two purposes: (a) students learn more about one another, and students practice public speaking competencies by speaking about something familiar to them. When I assign the photo impromptu assignment, I also demonstrate the presentation with photos from my own life, further building connections between myself and my students.
I also encourage students to draw connections between course content and their daily lives. For example, in SPC3301: Interpersonal Communication, the “Artifact Analysis Project” is designed to encourage students to relate the theories and concepts from the textbook to mediated representations of interpersonal communication. Students are divided into groups and are each assigned a textbook chapter. Each group must select a media “artifact,” such as a clip from a film or television show, a play, a YouTube video, etc. that demonstrates 2-3 concepts or theories from the assigned chapter of the textbook. Groups then must prepare a professional handout using the assignment rubric and examples posted to CANVAS, prepare and deliver a professional 15-20 minute presentation which analyzes the media artifact in relation to the selected textbook concept(s) and/or theory(ies), and lead a 10-15 minute discussion facilitation where groups must ask the class 3-4 questions to further explore the selected artifact and course material.
References
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). The general causality orientations scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19(2), 109-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(85)90023-6
Purdue University. (2018). IMPACT: 2018 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=impactreps
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications.