Teaching Dossier

My teaching philosophy is comprised of four central tenets: (1) foster interdisciplinary learning environments, (2) prioritize active and experiential learning, (3) use an intersectional approach to advance equity and inclusion, and (4) teach with radical compassion.

(1) Foster interdisciplinary learning environments: The study of sustainability is uniquely and unequivocally interdisciplinary. While it is essential that sustainability curriculum introduce students to current and critical global issues, students must also be taught to be effective communicators, critical thinkers, and global citizens. As my own education was interdisciplinary across the humanities and sciences, I encourage students to apply a systems thinking or ecosystem approach (Allen et al., 1993) to sustainability curriculum. I teach course content not merely through textbooks, but through storytelling, poetry, film, case studies, and community engaged learning. Through interdisciplinary learning environments, students can develop a wide range of discipline-specific and transferable skills that will be of value in addressing the consequences of our changing climate and the ongoing ecological crisis. 

Some of my most meaningful classroom experiences have been those that brought together individuals from several disciplines to invoke stimulating discussion. As a sustainability educator, I have had the opportunity to bring students from various academic disciplines together to collaborate and create innovative and holistic solutions to global problems. As a lifelong learner, I have and will continue to grow and learn from my peers, my colleagues, and my students, whose perspectives may differ from my own.

(2) Prioritize active and experiential learning: In my classroom, students are regularly asked to engage in individual and group learning activities that help them co-construct their knowledge of the ideas and experiences encountered throughout the course. Students are also asked to actively reflect and demonstrate how the course curriculum has impacted their own beliefs about and actions towards creating sustainable and equitable communities.

To increase student engagement, and to perhaps spark a passion for course topics and themes that lasts far beyond the academic term, I have designed several experiential learning activities with assessed components. For example, to allow students to explore if and how personal behavioural change impacts climate change, I created the ‘5x5 Challenge Assignment’. During a five-day challenge period students undertake a pro-environmental behaviour each day that contributes to mitigating climate change in accordance with the following themes: meatless Monday, active transportation Tuesday, zero waste Wednesday, truth and reconciliation Thursday, and ‘talk about it’ Friday. Students are encouraged to record their progress and reflect on their experiences throughout the week. Following this challenge period, students complete a creative and reflective assessment submitted as a short ‘TikTok-style’ video. In their video, students must explain how the challenges contributed to climate change mitigation, reflect on their experiences during the challenge period, and discuss the impacts of individual climate action versus structural and systemic change. This hands-on experience provides students with the opportunity to take key course themes beyond the confines of our classroom environment so that they can effectively connect what they have learned in class to the ‘real world’ and their own everyday lives (Budhai & Skipwith, 2017).

(3) Use an intersectional approach to advance equity and inclusion: The role of intersectionality in my philosophy as a teacher of geography and environment is twofold. First, my approach to designing and delivering sustainability curriculum involves centering justice and equity, rather than purely the environment (Agyeman, 2008). Students in my courses are provided with opportunities to approach and understand sustainability through an intersectional lens as well as explore positionality and acknowledge and reflect upon their social identities and positions of privilege. I have taken steps to indigenize my classroom structure and curriculum by embedding Indigenous pedagogies and ways of knowing such as storytelling, relationality, and experiential learning (Brant, 2020). I am committed to further advancing Indigenous engagement in my courses by including Indigenous voices and perspectives as often as possible and continuing to explore additional ways to indigenize my classroom, such as using land-based teaching spaces.

Second, to recognize and engage the diversity of learners in my classroom, I adhere to the guidelines of the universal design for learning framework (CAST, 2018). Because there is not one approach to teaching that is ideal for all learners, I provide students with multiple options to engage with course content, use multiple means of representation to deliver lessons, and encourage students to navigate and express their learning through multiple approaches (CAST, 2018). My lessons include a wide range of learning activities that vary in level of independence and required and type of effort. I strive to create brave classroom spaces (NASPA, 2017) that minimize potential threats and negative distractions so that all students can participate. When delivering lessons, I incorporate alternatives for auditory and visual content, promote understanding across language and culture, and use ‘access checks’ to acquire student feedback. Students in my courses are assessed on their ability to communicate their knowledge and understanding through a variety of mediums to reduce media-related barriers among learners with varying needs and to allow all students to develop a wider range of expression (CAST, 2018). To aid in the development of strategic and goal-oriented learners, I also provide students with assessment checklists, grading rubrics, and prompts to support project planning.   

(4) Teach with radical compassion: My teaching style is the subject of most of the unsolicited student feedback I receive. Not only do students express their appreciation for my flexibility, but they often appear surprised by my willingness to accommodate them. While the choice to teach with this level of compassion does not always align with traditional approaches, an alarming decline in student mental health and well-being (Wang et al., 2020) has driven me to reflect on my teaching philosophy and become a leader in the creation of compassionate post-secondary campuses.

Teaching with compassion involves actively listening and believing students’ stories without judgement, which can lead to an enhanced student experience (Amaya et al., 2019). While I actively encourage students to visit my office hours to ask questions, discuss concerns, and receive support, I also structure and design my courses around accessibility, empathy, and flexibility. To accommodate students who struggle to meet assessment deadlines, my courses include a ‘no questions asked’, flexible deadline policy. This option provides all students with additional time to complete and submit select assignments without penalty. To help students cope with the demands of post-secondary learning and further develop success strategies, I introduce students to goal setting, time management, and organizational tools, such as priority matrices and mind mapping exercises. For students looking to explore ideas introduced in class more deeply and to support my students’ academic endeavors more broadly, I suggest additional resources that complement course content and highlight relevant community opportunities for students interested in gaining further experience outside the classroom.

My leadership and innovation have not gone unnoticed, and my students have responded well to what I believe to be an innovative approach to teaching. On the most recent student feedback survey trend report from Western University, I scored strongly on all questionnaire categories with a 46% student response rate; however, teaching is a continuous learning experience. As a self-reflective learner, I am consistently adapting and learning from my colleagues, my students, and my own mistakes. While I continue my lifetime of learning, I am confident that I am on the right track because of student comments like this one: "You are my favourite instructor. You have inspired me in many ways. You made learning feel like a hobby and I appreciate all you do."