I teach the way that I have been taught. However, now that I have been introduced to teaching pedagogies, I still teach the way that I have been taught, but now I have been taught differently. My teaching philosophy is that a student-centered environment using experiential and active learning creates a sense of relevancy and builds strong communication skills.

1. Student-centered Learning Environment – I was thrilled to become an adjunct professor. I was excited that someone had faith in me to teach. I knew I could do it and I anticipated showing the administration what I could do. I wanted to show my students how much I knew about our class topics. Then I realized how much I thought about “I”. Now, there is no pedestal in the classroom and we are all learners together. To me, teaching is about helping and watching students acquire and use knowledge in a meaningful way. I am still available as a leader, mentor, and resource, but overall the classroom is focused on learning, not teaching.

2. Experiential and Active Learning – I have always enjoyed developing activities for informal educational experiences such as summer camp, scouting or 4-H programs such as games, puzzles, and group problem solving activities. However, a transition to collegiate scholarship often decreases the active and experiential learning that occurs in the classroom. I know that I learn best by doing; why would it be any different for my students? Therefore, I try to use a combination of field-experiences, guest speakers, role-playing, field notebooks, and real-world applications depending on course scope.

3. Sense of Relevancy – Students may often understand what we are trying to teach them, but not why we’re trying to teach them something. Therefore, the idea of relevancy is important not only within the course, but within their profession or career.

4. Strong Communication Skills – The ability to communicate well, whether it is written or spoken, is important in every field. Additionally, students do not seem to want to put pen to paper and revise multiple drafts of a body of work or to practice a presentation. Most work seems to be done “off the cuff” frustrating instructors and employers alike. I believe in providing students with a framework to be successful not only in course assignments, but in the future as well.

As a natural resource professional, I have always stood by the following quote as a way to reaching a brighter, more sustainable, future:

“In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught.”
-Baba Dioum

However, I now may be so bold as to modify the last phrase to read, “We will understand only what and how we are taught.”