Social Scientist
Knowli Data Science, Tallahassee, FL
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Representation, Inclusivity, and Equity
In my view, the classroom should encourage educational equity, not uphold it. I aim to remove barriers students might encounter by designing inclusive course curriculums and encouraging diverse learning styles. I design my courses so that students can learn and progress, regardless of their resources or baseline knowledge and skill. Their relative development throughout the course is an important factor in their evaluation, which can equalize pre-existing inequalities that standardized assessments pose.
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I aim to represent all of my students in the course content. Including scholars from racially marginalized groups, such as scholars who are Black and Indigenous, is one important step. Yet more-explicit discussion of how social processes occur across and within intersections of race, ethnicity, sexual identities, ability, and age is necessary. These conversations help students understand why such scholars are often underrepresented in classrooms and syllabi to begin with. While some students might draw from their own experiences, it is similarly important to illustrate sociological phenomena through popular culture, where students might better gauge how different axes of inequality converge.
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It is important to me that my students can achieve regardless of their learning styles or resources. I only require open-source texts in my classes, aside from other materials accessible through the university. It is also clear that class lecture, reading, and writing are not the only ways that students hone their sociological imaginations. But these modes of teaching are disproportionately applied in university settings. I aim to support students diverse learning styles by incorporating different content mediums into my curricula, including visual learning tools, podcasts and videos, and building time into classes where students can discuss content with one another (rather than as one large group).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
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Head Instructor - Undergraduate
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SYG 2010 Social Problems
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SYA 4400 Social Statistics
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Teaching Assistant - Graduate
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SYA 5307 Introduction to Research Methods
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SYA 5406 Multivariate Analysis
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SYA 5407 Advanced Quantitative Techniques
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Teaching Assistant - Undergraduate
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SYA 4400 Social Statistics
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SYG 1000 Introduction to Sociology
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SYG 2010 Social Problems
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SYG 2430 Sociology of Marriage and the Family
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SYO 4402 Medical Sociology
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SYP 4550 Drug and Alcohol Problems
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SYP 4650 Sports and Society
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