Introduction

I have been teaching philosophy courses at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill California since Spring term 2004. In that time I have taught Introduction to Philosophy, Critical Thinking and Philosophy of Religion.

As I tell my students in my Introduction to Philosophy course, one can study philosophy by looking at what other (mostly dead white males) have said. But, I continue, my class will not take that approach. Rather, I look at philosophy both as conversation that is centered around certain questions (e.g., what is the ideal state) and a method that can be used to assess posited answers to these questions.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Assumptions and Goals

Assumptions

In each of classes I teach under the following assumptions:

• Classroom time should be active as well as passive. Students will learn better if they are encouraged not only to understand but to question and possibly reject the material under discussion.
• Papers should provide an opportunity to learn and not merely serve as evaluative tools. Each assignment should be constructed to allow engage deeply with philosophical questions and concepts.
• That the classroom is should made into a "safe space" where everyone is free to engage in the exchange of ideas and positions on issues that can be controversial without fear or intimidation or reprisal.

Goals

Many of the my goals are common to instructors, however, I view them as important. I challenge students to:

• View philosophy as an ongoing discussion in which they can (and should) take an active roll.
• Be able to use sucessfully the vocabulary, tools and methods of philosophy so that they can engange in the philosophical debate by assessing the positions of others and articulating their own postions.
• View a difference of opinion as something open to discussion and not as something to dismissed as "stupid."
• Think critically about their own views as well as those of others and to appreciate the reasons behind the respective positions.

Methods

Technology

Each semester I update a course website that contains a syllbus for each course that I am teaching that term. I have a section of the website deadicated to handouts on topics that students have found interesting or difficult (e.g., the philosophical concept of necessity). I also the website to provide students without outlines of class discussion prior to the class meeting. I find that this helps those students who are visual learners better focus on the material. I also find that the outlines help students spend less time focusing on note taking (passive learning) and more time engaged in disucssion of the material (active learning).

In my Introduction to Philosophy course students are required to register for an on-line bulletin board. Students answer a weekly study question on the reading and are encouraged to address answers posted by other students. The bulletin board serves the goal of helping students focus their reading and provides a model of engaging in philosophy informally and outside the classroom. Since students are required to post responses prior to the class meeting, I am able to better tailor class meetings to the needs of the students.

Presentations

In my Introduction to Philosophy course students often spend time working in small groups. Each group might be responsible for interpreting part of an argument and presenting their interpretation to the class as a whole.

Students in my Critical Thinking course are required to give a small group presentation (usually three students to a group) an a fallacy. Student define the fallacy, provide examples of their own choosing (and not from the book) as well as possible ways to avoid making the mistake. The presentations give students experience speaking in front of others as well as in answering questions based on their research.

Learning Modalities

I create a classroom environment where students can use different learning styles. Each class meeting is centered on an outline made of PowerPoint slides. The outlines, provided in advance to students via the course website, help visual learners. In additions, diagrams and charts are available on the course website. Auditory learners are encouraged to engage in active listening and to take part in discussion in the classroom on in the on-line forum. I am working on ways to better reach kinesthetic learners in a philosophy course.