Outstanding University Graduate Student Teaching Award, Masters I
Dorothy Stone
- Graduate Teaching Assistant in English
- M.A. from Illinois State University in 2022
What is the core of your teaching philosophy in one sentence?
I seek to engage learners in adaptable, meaningful, and intentional writing practices through civic engagement and social justice approaches.
The three most valuable or important methods/approaches/attitudes/etc. that I bring to my teaching practice are …
A commitment to social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; a commitment to trauma-informed care; and a commitment to building spaces where students feel safe enough to be themselves but brave enough to challenge norms.
The most rewarding aspect of teaching for me is … (and why)
Being able to witness students renegotiate the things they learned before stepping into my classroom and begin to question why things are the way they are, whether that be how they learned to study, what academia values, or why systems of oppression continue to exist.
The most challenging aspect of teaching for me is … (and what I do about it)
Being able to separate myself from my feedback. It's easy for me, as a multiply marginalized instructor and proud advocate of critical race theory, to say that a student just "didn't get" what I was trying to do and to feel hurt, but this type of feedback is valuable to my growth and enables me to revise my pedagogy and bring more voices into the conversation.
Regarding my teaching accomplishments, I am proudest about …
The opportunity to share my opinions and strategies related to effective antiracist and experience affirming pedagogies. Cultural responsiveness and ethical communication have always been at the forefront of my pedagogy and I am grateful to be in a position to make those commitments visible.
The best moment/event in my teaching career is … and from it I learned …
When I reached out to a student who hadn't been showing up to class, and he confided in me that he thought college was hard but that maybe he was just being a baby. I assured the student that it was very mature to admit that things were difficult, invited him back to class, and offered to help him create a plan for the rest of the semester. He returned soon after that, tired as he was, and turned in some of the most creative and artistic projects I have seen in my classes. From this experience, I learned how powerful one "How are you?" could be, and hope to extend the same simple kindness to all my students.
“Cultural responsiveness and ethical communication have always been at the forefront of my pedagogy, and I am grateful to be in a position to make those commitments visible.”