Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Substantively, my teaching has focused on aging/social gerontology, inequality/stratification, work and occupations, and qualitative methods.

A topical focus that integrates many of these strands is the process and challenges of care-giving (especially by paid workers in the public sphere) for the aged and chronically ill. These strands are closely intertwined, since social influences on the aging process and one’s subjective experience of aging are, alike, mediated by careers — both formal ones, in educational and work settings, and those, less formal, that unfold in our immediate social circles and often, institution settings. As Erving Goffman pointed out in his (1961) book Asylums, the concept is powerful precisely because it contains this duality: a career is both an objective set of pathways and opportunities, as well as a personal, biographical construct. Documenting and understanding linkages between the two are among the defining challenges (and rewards) of sociology, especially so in the sub-field of aging and the life course.

The overarching approach to education that animates and unifies my various efforts is rooted in the Pragmatic approach of John Dewey and his inheritors in current schools of scholarship and critical education. The term Pragmatism has two connotations, both of which shape my approach and practice as a teacher. First, in a formal sense, Pragmatism denotes an American philosophical tradition that informs inquiry in symbolic interactionist and kindred interpretive traditions of scholarship. My research and teaching embrace the commitment to understanding cultural meaning and human agency as central to social processes and social organization. Thus, I tend to de-emphasize more abstract, mechanistic models of social research and explanation, and anchor theoretical debates in social practice to the greatest extent possible. Second, to be a pragmatic teacher — in a folk sense of the term — is to maintain conscious awareness of the personal, ethical, cultural, and even political relevancies which students and teachers alike bring to the classroom. Apart from their developing intellectual interests (which for many are only tentative and fuzzy during the college years), students are motivated to have a constructive and authentic impact in the world. This orientation towards “social reform” is perhaps the most powerful appeal sociology holds for students.

Therefore, I do not confine my teaching role to the transmission of substantive knowledge but try as well to excavate and sharpen students’ capacity to identify and address — through the lens of sociology — troubles and dilemmas in their personal and social milieux. An underlying goal of my teaching, at all levels, is to connect critical concepts and analyses from social research to issues which students either confront in their current lives or define as important based on projected career plans or aspirations. In this connection, among my most rewarding teaching roles is guiding students in field internships and career guidance: this experience, bridging the classroom and worlds” of work — typically, for my students, in health care and human service agencies — fosters critical reflection and integration of academic knowledge with everyday practice.

Moreover, a constructively pragmatic approach to teaching is a natural one, given the make-up and career trajectories of my students at Illinois State. Few of my students are headed for graduate study or research roles in the social sciences. Instead, the great majority of my students see the material as a supplement to clinical fields such as psychology, social work, nursing and therapeutic recreation. They are less interested in sociology, per se, than in using the perspective to contextualize and humanize problems that they typically approach through medical and/or clinical perspectives. This presents trade-offs for me as a teacher: while such students may lack familiarity and confidence with assumptions and perspectives of the social sciences, as a group they’re strongly motivated to grasp and apply course material. Long ago I concluded that it is with these students that I can have perhaps my greatest and most lasting impact as a teacher.

However, the pragmatic approach—and my expectation as a teacher that experiential validity is a core goal of the educational process—has also been a source of difficulty at times, and points the way for further growth and development in my teaching. Many students, especially at the introductory level, lack life experience or commitments that can serve as vehicles for application of course material; in turn, such students may struggle to apply material as I would ideally hope, a struggle that may divert time and energy that could otherwise be devoted to pedagogical approaches that are better suited to cognitive or small-group techniques (formal lecture, debate) which clearly have virtues. My attempt to “meet students halfway” has led me to cultivate an informal, discursive lecturing style which, for some students, is not as clearly or logically organized as they would like. Integrating my overall goals, with clearer exposition as a lecturer and more skillful variation of presentational styles, has been important in my ongoing development as a teacher. Invited guest lecturers, small group projects, and supplementary handouts, distributed via Blackboard, have been invaluable tools.

Finally, my pragmatic approach to teaching, combined with a desire to deepen and expand my support of students, has led me to integrate this agenda with my curricular and service activities at the college and university levels. I organized a campus-wide symposium on aging and disability in November of 2010 and, with Dr. Caroline Mallory of the Mennonite College of Nursing, organized an ongoing, multi-disciplinary Network on Aging, Health, and Disability that has hosted a series of brown bag presentations. Our hope is that this will be an enduring bridge between the campus and community, serving to enhance teaching, research, and service in the years ahead.