Teaching Philosophy

Samantha Baal

In our literature and writing classrooms, students often have important ideas and opinions,
but they lack the ability to set those opinions in a proper context. Thus, although they wish to take
part in major cultural or literary conversations, students struggle to transform their ideas into
verifiable arguments that contribute to issues other than grades or relate to someone other than
themselves. This skill is more important than ever in a world of alternative facts and social media
bubbles. Whether they continue in English or not, I provide my students with the tools to think
critically about the arguments they create and consume, then consider why their work in the
classroom matters in their local and international communities.
In my introductory and survey courses, I set the groundwork for nuanced, critical insights by
creating environments that challenge students to ask the right questions and generate fruitful
discussion on and off the page. Through blog posts on new media forums and frequent group
activities, I ensure that each student gets the chance to express their personal viewpoints and readings
of a given text. I complement our student-based in-class work with assignments that emphasize basic
writing and reading skills, particularly close reading, synthesis, and critical analysis. I believe these
skills are integral to grounding students knowledge and challenging them to convey complex ideas
in direct, clear terms. When my students sit down to compose their papers, the daunting task of
coming up with an argument or creating a thesis statement will seem less so because I challenge them
to do this every day in class. Furthermore, by utilizing apps like Tumblr, Instagram, and Spotify, my
students learn to tie their critical thoughts to contemporary ways of producing knowledge and new
networks.
I build upon these skills in my upper division courses, which ensure that advanced English
majors can contribute to current critical discourse and debates. All my assignments at this level
require insights that not only reveal an intrinsic issue in the primary text, but also connect that issue
to a larger concern either in the Victorian era or through a particular literary theory. Rather than
merely analyze Mr. Rochesters imprisonment of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre, for instance, my
students must also address why this plot point is important to discussions of madness in the period,
then experiment with how this sequence features in major postcolonial and intersectional feminist
theories. My advanced students are challenged to put their work in a larger context and thus reveal
the importance of their research and analyses. Subsequently, they realize the relevance of their work
to contemporary critical issues in the humanities and beyond.


As expressed so far, my most important focus lies in blurring the lines between my classroom
and the outside world, whether within popular culture or academic culture. In my Victorian literature
course, I never allow my students to begin in-class comments with the phrase Back then. Rather
than consign Victorian issues such as imperialism, marriage laws, or class warfare to the past, I
challenge students to consider how these problems continue to shape Western society today.
With that in mind, I am committed to the interdisciplinary classroom across all levels of my
university teaching. In my Intro to Literature class, my students synthesize W.E.B. Du Boiss The
Souls of Black Folk with outside texts like mission statements from contemporary HBCUs and FIU in
order to understand how Du Boiss ideas on education still affect how we construct universities
today. We also read A Streetcar Named Desire alongside the 1951 film, which generates discussion
regarding adaptation and censorship of queer desires. These mixed media moments extend to the
course readings, which include a section on Pre-Raphaelite paintings in my Victorian Literature
course or a week on mid-twentieth century womens magazines in my American Literature survey.
These objects extend the lessons of close reading of texts to other media. At the semesters end, my
students leave with a clear understanding of a literary tradition and a stronger sense that they have
discerning and active minds in numerous arenas outside that tradition.
Furthermore, I realize that my work as an instructor does not occur in a vacuum, and I am
interested in finding practices to ensure that we as a community within the humanities and the
academy prepare and nurture our students skills through each step of their education. Without a
strong foundation in the lower division English courses, upper division students grow frustrated
when asked to respond to published critics or explain their work in group presentations. I have seen
this frustration first-hand and have experimented with practices at the introductory level to prevent it.
The methodologies I have outlined here contribute to that overarching concern, so that, like my
students, I think beyond my courses and play an active role in strengthening my department and my
community, both academic and cultural. The individual student is at the very core of these matters,
which is why my work begins with them their needs and their skills then ripples outward to
address how I can challenge them in new and significant ways at both the classroom and
departmental levels.