Curiosity. My teaching philosophy is characterized by the belief that I am a student first and a teacher second. Being a lifelong learner is paramount to my work as well as my teaching practice. Keeping an open mind and continually seeking new skills and ideas are both humbling and inspiring to me as I continually evolve as an educator and a researcher. It’s important that my students understand there are plenty of things they can teach me, too. By modeling this philosophy, I encourage them to be lifelong learners themselves and to implement curiosity and openness in their creative process.
Failure. I also teach students to embrace failure as a part of their process. To be successful in a creative field, designers must able to re-frame their failures as opportunities instead of setbacks. I encourage them to keep showing up throughout the design process through experimentation and iteration. By continually confronting their fear of failure, they build resilience and confidence as designers.
Empathy. Designers today are required to balance hard skills like coding and composition with soft skills like respect and empathy. I believe empathy is the most important quality we can cultivate as designers and human beings. It can also be hard to learn. Throughout projects and critiques, I encourage students to view their work though various lenses that acknowledge the unique experiences of a particular user or audience, including their education, background, socioeconomic status, geographic location and abilities. By emphasizing a user-centered, people-first approach throughout every critique and conversation in my classroom, I hope to teach students to positively impact the people for whom they design and the world in which they live.
Equity. Discourse and collaboration in my classroom are characterized by inclusion and equity. Only when every student in the room feels heard and their experiences validated am I doing my job properly as an educator. I strive to create an atmosphere that is open and accessible for all abilities, and elevates the voices and experiences that each student brings to the table. By modeling this philosophy, I encourage students to approach their design work with the same values of inclusion and accessibility.