Teaching Philosophy
Teaching mathematics is about far more than instructing students in specific pieces of content. Twenty years after completing one of my courses, it is unlikely that any of my students will remember a specific piece of content she learned. However, I do hope that she will be more capable of solving challenging, complex problems; able to discuss technical material in a precise way; and able to participate in technical discussions by asking good questions to deepen her understanding. I have found active, inquiry-based pedagogies to be the most effective way for me to help students achieve these broad goals. My transition from a careful lecturer to a practitioner of learning-centered active pedagogies began in graduate school, when I took a course on teaching, learning, and course design in higher education. As I assumed a position at Washington & Lee University (W&L), I became a Project NExT fellow and began learning about inquiry-based learning (IBL) in mathematics. After attending an IBL workshop in 2014, I came to realize that some of the activities I had developed in graduate school or as a postdoc were IBL activities and began working to maximize the amount of student-driven inquiry in my courses.