In four years of teaching at Colorado State University, I developed a profound appreciation for the habits of successful teaching: preparation, enthusiasm, and spontaneity. In teaching at Annenberg, I was able to apply these fundamentals to areas closer to my research interests, in both formal instruction of undergraduates and informal interaction with my peers.

My formal teaching experience began as an assistant coach for the Colorado State University forensics team. Having been their peer just months earlier, I learned to establish authority with students without ruining friendships. I learned the value of unstructured discussion with and between students. I also learned that I cannot think for students and that teaching others how to think is exceptionally challenging.

As I began my master’s degree and continued to coach the forensics team, I also began to teach the introductory public speaking course. I quickly grew to love it. I taught extra classes in the summer. Every semester, I reworked my syllabus, exams, and lesson plans, seeking new ways to force the students to critically engage the material.

The year after I earned my MA, I thoroughly enjoyed my full-time job teaching four sections of speech per semester. In total, I taught 13 sections over 3 years, and while I am more excited to teach subjects closer to my area of scholarly expertise, I would still enjoy teaching public speaking. Students came in self-conscious about their oratorical skills; as they quickly learned, I cared more about developing their skills as researchers, writers, and thinkers. Most improved dramatically in these areas. Students' anonymous evaluations often reflected an appreciation for refined research and writing skills, and their numerical averages show steady improvement over time.

At Annenberg, I was a teaching fellow for two classes: Joseph Turow’s Advertising and Society, and Paul Messaris’s Film, Forms, and Contexts. For both courses, I regularly met with students, providing substantial instructional input. Professor Messaris also allowed me to give a lecture, covering subjects such as the evolution of cinematic audio technology. Both of these gifted teachers served as excellent role models, insisting on near-constant student input in the classroom, demanding excellent work, and delivering classroom learning that brought materials to life.

My time at Annenberg has also given me the chance to teach—and learn from—my remarkable peers. I taught a special course on using QSR N6 software for content analysis. More importantly, I am part of a network of near-constant reciprocal informal assistance. I look forward to teaching and learning from my students in a similar fashion for years to come.