Teaching
I enjoy teaching courses aimed at improving our "everyday" communication skills (such as public speaking, interviewing, interpersonal interaction, etc.). Before teaching in higher education, I have worked with groups of students in middle school to one-on-one tutoring for international students to teaching non-traditional students at a community college.
Current Semester:
Fall 2009 - COM 201: Interpersonal Communication (RUTGERS)
How does everyday communication between two people work? What does it take to maintain a friendship these days? Why is it that communication skills are the number one thing that employers look for in the ideal job applicant? In this course, students will explore the basic elements of interpersonal communication. Special attention is given to topics including human perception, culture, emotion, listening, gender differences, self-disclosure, and conflict management. Students will be given the "tools" to improve their communication skills as well as personal relationships with friends and family through techniques, theories, hands-on exercises, and critical discussion. Overall, this course will help students learn more about themselves and improve their confidence in their ability to interact and form relationships with others.
Past Semesters:
Fall 2008, Spring 2009 - CMN 115: Interviewing Theory & Practice (ILLINOIS)
In the broadest sense, whether it be asking your classmates about a class session you missed or exchanging personal beliefs with a potential romantic partner, interviewing is an important part of our everyday communicative practices. According to communication scholar John Daly1, interviewing is “a concentrated attempt to understand another person through direct and immediate communication”. In this course, we will examine interviewing as a genre of social interaction, that is used to collect and disseminate spoken information under a variety of conditions. Put another way, this semester we will explore a range of different types of goal-focused conversation.
Fall 2007, Spring 2008 - CMN 101: Fundamentals of Effective Speaking (ILLINOIS)
This course seeks to develop and enhance your skills as an oral communicator. Topics of instruction include listening, speech preparation, research, audience analysis, vocal delivery, non-verbal communication, speech criticism, vocabulary skills, discussion, and the socio-psychological facets of human communication.