Megan R. Flannery

Teaching Philosophy

Regardless of the courses or students I teach, my priority is always the well-being and success of each individual. I believe that teaching is not just about imparting knowledge but is also about assisting student growth and building beloved community.

My Objectives

• Build students’ self-efficacy and amplify student voices.
• Teach students as a fellow scholar rather than as an infallible authority figure.
• Explicitly connect classroom lessons to real world situations.
• Promote different ways of thinking to provide students with a richer, fuller understanding of material.
• Create an environment that fosters creativity, curiosity, discussion, and mutual respect.
• Develop students’ communication, composition, and critical thinking skills.
• Provide all students equal access and opportunity regardless of background.
• Expand students’ worldview and prepare them to be conscientious, considerate, purpose-filled members of the community.

My Philosophy

I appreciate the importance of writing, not just for someone like myself who enjoys it, but for everyone. I am a firm believer that everyone needs to know how to assess rhetorical situations and communicate effectively; therefore, I enjoy showing my students the relevance of and importance of writing in their own lives. I believe that English courses, particularly composition courses, are relevant to all students, regardless of literacy background or major. I try to always connect classroom objectives to real world situations so that students can appreciate the importance of their work.

I have worked with a variety of students: adults returning to school, rural students with untraditional education histories, first generation college students, and international students, as well as more traditional undergraduate students. I work hard to incorporate students’ self-sponsored literacy practices into the composition classroom. I believe that there are already too many individuals who are denied access to the college classroom because of their background or socio-economic status; therefore, I strive to make the material in the class as accessible as possible and meet my students where they are within their own literacy narrative.

I think about accessibility as (1) making things free and available and (2) modifying resources/my own pedagogy if necessary to accommodate all my students. One way that I do this is by creating a welcome survey for students to fill out at the beginning of the semester so I can get to know them, their concerns, and their requests a little better. I think by college, the classroom (especially the writing classroom) should be a site of collaboration; therefore, I try to make designing our course collaborative as well. I often check in with students for anonymous feedback on what teaching approaches/techniques are working well and which ones aren’t. I believe that accessibility is a commitment every teacher makes when they aim to help all students be successful.