Active learning shapes my teaching. It encourages higher-order thinking, collaboration, and skill development by requiring students to apply, analyze, and synthesize knowledge through intentional classroom structures and assignments.

My classes combine lectures, group discussions, and in-class activities. Discussion questions encourage students to interrogate current events through course concepts. In POL 398, for example, we examine the complexities of Kamala Harris's presidential bid through an intersectional lens, engaging debates central to gender politics and Black women in politics scholarship. Moreover, in-class activities let students apply skills directly. In POL 101, for instance, students form small groups to design public opinion surveys, wrestling hands-on with sampling and question wording.

My upper-level courses are writing-intensive with scaffolded deadlines that build skills through intermediary feedback. Assignments vary by course: analytical reading summaries and in-class essays in POL/AAS 320; a semester-long research portfolio in POL 398 that students have used to enrich their honors theses.

To accommodate diverse learners, I also assign an Applied Learning Project in which students choose a topic related to the class and a multimedia tool, such as recording a podcast, creating a radio segment, making a short video, writing a blog post, or drawing a political cartoon. Even students who struggle earlier in the semester tend to excel here by leveraging their strengths and creative interests.

Student evaluations reflect the effectiveness of this approach: I average 4.7 out of 5 in overall ratings across all courses. Effectiveness is also reflected in student comments from such evaluations, some of which are included below.

She is amazing with connecting material and not just listening, but adding on to class discussions to help the entire class better understand the concept being spoken on. There are pre-section discussions along with ones after learning the material.

[The professor] has helped me grow academically, and helped me build problem solving skills. I loved our in class discussions because it allowed me to learn about other points of views. Through this course, I got to gain a clear understanding about world around me.

I loved her approach towards teaching this class. It is very engaging, she asks us questions, we do discussion groups, and different opinions are welcomed and taken into consideration. I enjoyed the applied learning project, and the test for me personally was the right amount of challenging. She has great energy and very understanding.

[The professor] was very easy to talk to. I got to communicate my thoughts and concerns effectively without feeling discouraged or judged. The content was easy to understand and it challenged my brain in ways I did not imagine. All and all, I thoroughly enjoyed the class.

She made it her goal to know everyones names even though it was a 100 person lecture hall. I thought this to be super telling to her personally. To explain, she cares about her students.