I have found undergraduate teaching at the University of Pittsburgh to be both a challenging and rewarding experience. As a result of routinely teaching courses that vary widely in terms of thematic focus and enrollment size, it is difficult to provide a generic teaching philosophy that works for all of these educational settings. My experiences in teaching have indicated to me that no two courses are the same, as the student dynamic that one encounters when teaching courses from year to year is extremely fluid. Nevertheless, I take my commitment to undergraduate teaching very seriously and, therefore, strive to support the mission of the University of Pittsburgh of undergraduate training excellence. My responsibilities for this range widely from effectively teaching large groups of students of 200 or more, to working individually with undergraduate honors students in the successful completion of their theses, to training students during the summer in archaeological field research settings in foreign locations such as Russia. While all of these settings vary widely in terms of the level of interaction I have with undergraduate students and my specific teaching responsibilities, in all cases I commit myself to providing excellence in three key areas: (1) communication, (2) organization, and (3) adaptability.
I feel that a commitment to clear communication with students is absolutely essential for providing effective undergraduate training. This means that as an instructor it is important, based on student evaluations, to continually strive to refine courses. Moreover, an instructor must work hard to be approachable both inside the classroom setting as well as outside of it. Organization is another goal that I feel is crucial to productive and meaningful student training. Such organization starts with the syllabus and extends through to each and every lecture. Just as we have clear expectations of students, as instructors we must also make every effort to continually reevaluate the effectiveness of our courses and methods of teaching. And, the third key element is that of adaptability. Each class has its own unique set of characteristics. Therefore, I have found that as an instructor it is important to be flexible in responding to the different strengths and weaknesses that develop within such settings. While it is certainly important to have a clear and coherent course structure from the beginning of the term, I always strive to communicate with my students in such a way that they feel I am doing all I can to provide a productive and meaningful educational experience for them.
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