I taught Contemporary Civilization (CC) starting in September 2012. This course is truly transformative, both for students and instructors. CC asks the Big Questions and allows students to grapple with creating their answers.
This course covers an exceptional number of texts and span of time, starting with Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece, and ending in the Twentieth Century. Students work individually in their reading and then together with their classmates and me in class to dig into the ideas, questions, and meaning of the texts. They develop the ability to argue better and through that to better understand their own ideas and those of their peers. We spend four hours each week together, getting to know each other, our authors, and ourselves. This course demands that students examine their beliefs and ideas, and acknowledge and understand them as much as they must acknowledge and understand our authors. Students in the last few years have returned to me to share that the value of CC has grown for them, even after they left the classroom. We grapple with questions of how to achieve "the good life," and that grappling helps to create that life.
I first taught as a Preceptor, one of a handful of advanced doctoral students selected to teach in Columbia's Core Curriculum. In my two years as a Preceptor. I enjoyed the truly student-centered approach that makes this class great. Students read primary works, and have active twice-weekly classes where we dig into the texts and their implications together. After graduating with my doctorate, I served as an Adjunct Instructor, where I continued to refine my practice and content knowledge. In 2015 I was selected as one of the Postdoctoral Fellow Core Lecturers, and taught two sections of the course. When the postdoctoral fellowship concluded, I taught again as an Adjunct Instructor. During my years as an instructor, I used my background in the learning sciences to support my fellow instructors, and have continued supporting first-year teachers, which you can read about here.
