The wonders of the natural world fascinate me, and my passion for teaching comes from a desire to cultivate similar appreciation among students through knowledge and experience. I aim to design curriculum to prepare students for success within science, but also for the demands of everyday life such as critical thinking and evidence-based decision making. Additionally, I emphasize connections to biological and environmental issues to which they may apply their abilities or advocacy from positions inside or outside of the discipline. Because the world is constantly in flux, adaptation is an important idea in science, and I think it is also key to effective teaching. The themes related to adaptation that feature most prominently in my philosophy of teaching and learning are tailored and relevant curriculum, flexibility in assessment, equitable learning environment, and reflective practice.

Tailored and relevant curriculum
When making curricular decisions, I value meeting students where they are and integrating information about where they’d like to go. To start, I am cognizant that students come into courses with a variety of pre-existing subject knowledge (and misconceptions) that impact reception of course material. I plan to use tools such as anonymous questionnaires or polls to examine this spectrum and help chart a course that connects with students’ existing passions and awakens new ones. My primary goal is to designing lessons that are relevant to highly pertinent issues and tasks in the discipline. In my guest lessons I’ve incorporated activities exploring management options for fisheries resources in applied conservation topics, and prioritized links to real-world applications when teaching fundamental biology topics. Through personal reflection on my academic and disciplinary journey I’ve found that my most formative and relevant experiences were activities in the classroom, field, and lab. Thus, I value experiential learning in the field and lab and use active learning exercises such as peer teaching, think-pair-share, group work, annotations, and individual reflection to complement lecture content. I plan to further increase the disciplinary relevance of my curriculum design by incorporating case studies, topical research projects, site visits, and contributions from practicing professionals. In this way I hope to motivate students, teach practical skills, paint an accurate picture of careers in the discipline, and initiate connections with practitioners.

Flexibility in assessment
I believe teaching and learning should be flexible and informed by formative assessment, and students should be offered flexibility in summative assessment. I craft learning objectives carefully to set expectations for depth and breadth of learning, align assessments, and guide student metacognition. However, I recognize that learning objectives may seem constraining or alternatively too ambitious, and there will likely be a large spectrum of aptitude in every class. Therefore, I plan to be flexible and adaptive with course and lesson outcomes and regularly assess subject matter progress to accommodate all learners. I’ll integrate regular formative assessment techniques such as opinion polls, minute papers, or “muddiest point” discourses to keep my finger on the pulse of student learning and adapt to difficulties or rapid progression. For summative assessment, I’m interested in offering options for student choice among and within tests, papers, presentations, and research projects. An example illustrating my emphasis on formative assessment and flexible summative assessment came recently while serving as a teaching assistant. I altered the course to accommodate student interests for review paper topics and to provide an opportunity for formative feedback on a paper outline. Overall, the review papers (summative product) improved considerably from prior years! In the future as an instructor I plan to accommodate different learning preferences by offering a flexible assessment model that gives students individual choice in choosing grade percentages (within ranges) for each course component.

Equitable learning environment
Equity and inclusivity are guiding principles for my course design and classroom atmosphere. I commit to making course material accessible by any means necessary to accommodate all learners. All students are encouraged to contribute their unique perspectives to enrich the course, and I practice strategies to address comments that may be harmful to others. Course content highlights the value of diversity in natural systems, the importance of incorporating diverse worldviews in research and resource management, and contributions to the discipline from diverse groups. For example, as a teaching assistant I reviewed the existing review paper and presentation topics offered in a fish conservation and management class and added “Indigenous knowledge systems and fisheries” and “Women fishers and gender dynamics in fisheries”. I am especially motivated to engage and mentor students from underrepresented and underserved groups to foster a sense of belonging and support progression in the discipline. To connect more effectively I prioritize listening, am transparent about how my privilege and background have influenced my perspectives, and seek diverse sources to guide me in issues affecting equity for which I do not have personal experience. Outside of higher education classes I contribute to making access to science education more equitable by engaging diverse audiences with outreach presentations.

Reflective practice
I strive for continuous improvement and use reflective teaching practice to refine instruction and curriculum development. Incorporating feedback from others has been tremendously valuable in enhancing my teaching. I’ve solicited written comments from students as well as oral and written discussions of effectiveness with mentors and other faculty observers after each of my guest lessons. This information is complemented by self-evaluation, written reflections, and specific notes about aspects of lessons and courses that worked especially well or needed improvement. I also assimilate new ideas gained from observing and collaborating with other instructors as well as staying current in the discipline through reading, collaborative research, and conference participation. Professional development including certificate courses and workshops has guided these pursuits and greatly enhanced my teaching practice. Thus, I will remain highly devoted to these development activities in the future!

Conclusion
Change and growth are ubiquitous in science, education, and society, and I embrace that. Reflective practice continually adapts my approach to teaching. I strive for the content to be better tailored, more relevant, and more effectively delivered each time I teach it. Assessment is at the forefront of conversation about change in academia, and I’m excited to explore innovation in both its design and grading, or potentially ungrading. I’m committed to equity and inclusion in science and society through student empowerment in the form of knowledge, skills, support, and opportunity. To this end, my core motivation is a desire to propel students on their journey to discover, set and reach goals, and positively change society.