Table of Contents

1) Philosophy of Teaching
2) Preparation in Instructional Pedagogy
3) Future Teaching Goals
4) Evaluation of Teaching
5) Sample Course Syllabus & Activities
6) Appendices
 
 

Philosophy of Teaching

 In my seven years of formal and informal teaching and a lifetime as a student, I am acutely aware of the impact classes may and may not have on individual students.  As a teacher of a basic, required course I believe it is my duty to make material relevant to student’s lives.  Thus, I require students to analyze communicative events from their own lives, rather than from an outside event.

However, it is also important for me to adapt to the comfort levels of different students.  Often, I need to meet students more than halfway when it comes to figuring out how to make course material germane to their lives.  Because of this, interaction in the classroom is key to my teaching philosophy.

Not only must I foster interaction among students, but I must also be willing to enter such interactions myself.  Group work and class discussions are central to my teaching style because it nurtures the sharing of personal opinions and experiences that relate to the course.  This, of course, means that sometimes discussion can become uncomfortable for those who have different opinions and experiences.

This is why I must do all I can to make the classroom a safe space for interaction and discussion of often controversial topics.  Hence, one phrase I teach to students upon entering a class I teach is, “This is my opinion and I own it.”  One of my professors from my undergraduate experience taught me this and it has become an intricate part of my daily life.  This phrase reminds me, and hopefully my students, of my own rights as well as the rights of those around me.

I extend the lesson surrounding the above phrase by holding what I believe is one of the most important discussions of the semester.  That discussion is about choice and responsibility.  It is important to me that I instill in my students the notion that they do have choices, but with those choices come responsibilities.  In most classes we discuss everything from the choice of whether or not to come to class and accepting the responsibilities and consequences of that choice to the choices of speech and discussion topics.

I believe that understanding the concepts of choice and responsibility is central to communicating well.  Our choice of language and other forms of communication can have both rewarding and disastrous consequences.  My goal for the communication classroom is to make students aware of this.  Therefore, I teach by example.  Not only do I use personal narrative, but I also incorporate current events, historic examples, and media and fictitious examples.  It is important to me to use what student’s know, to use examples they can relate to.

Overall, I try to foster student involvement in the classroom and awareness of their communicative actions.  I want students to enjoy their experience; but, more importantly, I want them to engage in and benefit from critical thinking.
 

Preparation in Instructional Pedagogy

 I have dedicated a portion of my doctoral course work to in depth study in instructional pedagogy.  Mainly, I have focused on the theories of critical pedagogy and how I can incorporate these studies into my teaching strategies and research agenda.  I do practice the principles of critical pedagogy (such as social change and teachers as ethnographers) in the classroom.  For instance, I emphasize to students that in their persuasive speeches they need to suggest practical changes and provide audiences with steps for change.  We spend class time brainstorming creative and plausible solutions to social problems.  I also consider myself as an ethnographer of students.  It is important for me to find out what motivates students to learn and to get involved in class and in the community.

I often find myself turning to critical pedagogists when I am confronted with students’ resistance to change. I am comforted by bell hooks’ discussion of the pain involved when giving up old ways.  I remind myself daily that change comes incrementally, and like hooks, “I learned to respect that shifting paradigms or sharing knowledge in new ways challenges; it takes time for students to experience that change as positive” (hooks, Teaching to Transgress 42).
 

Future Teaching Goals

 I consider myself as a very creative person.  I enjoy teaching because it is a dynamic occupation.  Therefore, I hope to teach at an institution that encourages creative teaching strategies.  I also aspire to use my creative juices in designing new courses.  For instance, one of my hopes is to teach a course that looks at organizational consulting through a critical theory lens.  I enjoy working with undergraduate students, hope to one day advise graduate students, and dream of working for an institution that encourages professors to get involved in community and global outreach programs.
 

Evaluation of Teaching

 I have provided three forms of evaluation that I conduct in my classes in Appendix A.  First, there are peer reviews in the form of the Small Group Instructional Diagnostics (SGID) that take place halfway through the semester.  In an SGID, a colleague comes to my class in my place and has the students get into small groups where they discuss their answers to questions about the course.  The usual questions asked include, "What do you like about the course?” “What do you dislike about the course?” And, “What suggestions do you have for improvement?”

 The purpose of the SGID is for me to make plausible changes in a course to adapt it to the present students.  Often, student comments are about the time the class meets or the amount of writing in a “speech” course.  Of course there is nothing I can do about time, and I always remind my students that it is a communication course, and writing is an important form of communication.  The SGID’s I have provided are representative of a three year period when I taught the required 101 course at Southern Illinois University.

 The second form of evaluation I have provided here is the campus-wide standardized survey.  This survey is based on a 5-point scale, and I consistently rank above a 4 point in my evaluations.  Students rank me highest in “enthusiasm for the subject,” “showed interest in students,” and “organized, presented subject well.”  I have provided sample surveys from my 101 classes and the Persuasion course I taught.

 Finally, I also believe that student’s specific comments are indicative of my teaching enthusiasm and ability.  Often, I have received unsolicited letters from non-major students in some of my required Introduction to Oral Communication sections.  I have provided excerpts from some of those letters.
 

Sample Course Syllabus & Activities

 I have included a copy of my syllabus for the Persuasion course I taught in the spring of 1998 in Appendix B.  I believe the syllabus is one of the most important items handed out in a class.  Therefore, my syllabi are detailed documents that I refer to as a “social contract.”

 In addition, I also included a description of some of my favorite and most successful activities that I have developed for different classes.  You can find these in Appendix C.
 

Teaching References

 In Appendix D I have provided a list of professors and colleagues who have witnessed and can attest to my teaching capabilities.
 
 

Appendix A:  Teaching Evaluation
1) Peer Reviews (not available on internet)
2) Student Standardized Reviews (not available on internet)
3) Student’s Personal Comments

Student’s Personal Comments

“Diana Tucker has a dynamic and informal style of teaching.  She is very clear and concise with her grading methods, and also with her expectations of the assigned speeches.  Her classroom activities are very interesting, and she keeps the class attentive with her group work and group discussions.”

“I really enjoyed being taught by Diana.  She interacted with the class very well.  Diana was very open as to who she was from the beginning of class.  She told everyone what was expected of them before class ever started.  By her opening up to the class, I felt very comfortable around her.  Most professors just come to class, teach, and then leave.  Diana always had a friendly smile on her face and she stayed after class to talk to us whenever we needed it.  The style she used to teach the class helped me to learn the processes that are involved in giving speeches.  She was very understanding because she was able to relate to us.  Equal opportunity was given to every student that took the course.”

“I enjoyed my overall experience in this course and I believe Diana does a wonderful job teaching the course.  She expected students to be more than involved with everyone in class.  Normally, I don’t usually enjoy class participation, but I did for this course.  Ms. Tucker does the best job of this [getting people to participate] than anyone I have ever seen.”

“I liked the fact that Ms. Tucker allowed us to speak our views on various topics during lecture instead of making us just sit back and listen.  The class engagements were also enjoyable as they allowed us time to apply our communication skills in a fun way.  Ms. Tucker’s teaching style and easy approach to communication made the class all the more enjoyable.  I absolutely enjoyed Ms. Tucker’s class.  Her knowledge, self-confidence and poise really is a bonus to her teaching skills.”

“I feel this class, and Diana Tucker, encouraged me to become an English teacher.  I feel that Diana also taught me to stand up for what I believe.  I found that Diana had great influence on a lot of students in the class.”
 

Appendix B: Course Syllabus

can be found on other links from webpage

Appendix C: Class Activities

Example 1

My favorite day of teaching is always the first day of a new semester.  This day is full of possibilities.  The way I handle it, the material I prepare, is crucial to my immediate future and the futures of my students.  One activity I often use on the first day of class is what I call “The Perception Game.”  I have students get into small groups (their first of many such groups in my classes) and guess about my life, based on their first impressions.  They have to guess my name, age, religion, hobbies, political affiliation, favorite sports, music, car I drive, where I’m from, etc.  I write all their guesses on the board and then reveal the “real” me as we go through the different categories.  This activity usually results in a lot of laughs and also segues nicely into a discussion about how our perception of others affects our communication with them.
 

Example 2

 Another activity that I rely upon is case studies and role-playing.  I ask students to get into small groups and I give each group a case study or scenario that I’ve written.  I make sure each scenario involves at least two people and has some sort of conflict involved.  I give two groups the opposite “sides” of each scenario.  Then I tell each group that they are going to have a meeting with the group representing the other side.  I ask each group to develop their communication strategy for the meeting.  Each group sends a representative to the meeting and the two representatives role-play their respective strategies.  After each scenario, I allow time for discussion about the pros and cons of each group’s strategy.
 Sometimes I give each group the same scenario and I role play the “other side.”  When we do this, I allow the students to play “tag team” where they yell, “freeze” and go in to play the person opposite me.  In these instances more students get to work out strategies they have developed individually.  In all cases, I emphasize using ideas and strategies we have discussed in class.
 

Example 3

 Finally, another of my favorite in-class activities involves ethics in communication.  If students are going to work on any long-term group project, I always require that the group draw up an ethics contract for all members to sign.  However, the items included in the contract must have group consent before they are put on paper.  In this way, I hope to encourage compromise, group discussion, and listening skills.  I entreat students to allow equal time and voice to everyone, and I encourage them to paraphrase each other’s comments in hope of ensuring group understanding.
 
 

Appendix D: Teaching References

Dr. Suzanne Daughton, Associate Professor
Dept. of Speech Communication
SIUC
Carbondale, IL 62901-6605
Office: (618) 453-1887
daughton@siu.edu
 

Dr. Liz Gullickson-Tolman, Assistant Professor
Communication and Theatre Department
Augustana College
Sioux Falls, SD 57197
(605) 336-5437
gullicks@augie.edu
 

Dr. Laurel Traynowicz, Associate Professor
Dept. of Communication
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725
Office: (208)426-1920
lhether@boisestate.edu
 

Dr. Mary Lou Higgerson, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of College
Baldwin-Wallace College
Berea, OH
mlhigger@bw.edu
 

Dr. Maggie Sullivan, Assistant Professor
Arts Communication Department
Loras College
Dubuque, IA  52004
(319) 588-7233
msulliva@loras.edu