Statement of Teaching

Exiting the field to return to academia, I traveled halfway across the country to present my experimental film Think Like Eisenstein at the 78th University Film and Video Association Conference. While in attendance of the panel Roundtable on Student Learning in Today’s Challenging Digital and Online World: Innovation, Inclusion, and Engagement, the concern of preparing this generation’s students for the field arose. Fresh from training newly hired Audio-Visual Specialists at the National Training Center - Fort Irwin, my response at the post-workshop discussion held a captivated audience. 

To many of the professors in attendance, a range of accommodations at the K-12 level seem to have left their students ill-prepared for university and marketplace expectations. Higher education and employers have consequently found themselves in the position of having to offer more comprehensive resources, continued comprehension checks, and simulated work-based learning to facilitate real world circumstances prior to assigning learners with more complex tasks and opportunities. I’ve witnessed and navigated similar experiences teaching across grade levels and in the field. The most ambitious will always find ways to thrive regardless of an institution’s support systems, however, those that are disadvantaged or disabled benefit from these opportunities, ensuring universities live up to their commitment of equity. 

For employers that offer resources and training programs, it ensures they have competent employees that have continued opportunities for professional development and advancement. As demonstrated in my curriculum vitae, I too have benefited from professional development courses as a CTE Arts, Media, and Entertainment Teacher but acknowledge the level of investment in such programs varies greatly from district to district as do students’ accessibility to diverse elective course offerings.  As such, higher education faculty and employers find themselves with the opportunity to bridge gaps in instruction that students have inherited from their primary and secondary schooling. I’ve provided these resources and supports in both academic and professional settings before, and can attest to their success in the classroom and field.

For aspiring media professionals, project based learning allows students to add to their creative portfolio as they learn. Utilizing a backward design approach, rubrics set the expectations for the project while providing the creative freedom students need to assemble something wholly their own. The direct handling of traditional gear also increases engagement with the application of theory through kinetic interaction with the medium. The effectiveness of project based learning can then be evaluated by measuring professional growth and product quality. My preferred approach to evaluating student comprehension of direct lectures remains data driven, utilizing weekly quizzes to gauge student comprehension of the content prior to their term exams. This ensures that student success is at the forefront of my teaching practice and that I can adapt to the needs of every class.

At Senspex, I became known and prized for my mastery of lighting and color grading but my broad knowledge of the field was considered even more valuable, as I was able to prepare new hires for multiple departments. Such was also witnessed at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools’ Communications Department when taking students on a field trip to their location. With the advancement of AI technology, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the need for well-trained generalists will increase substantially while acknowledging that there will always be a need for specialists. As such, I design my curriculum to develop students that are knowledgeable and capable across various pre-production, production, and post-production workflows. 

As an editing instructor, the practice of having students meet progressive deadlines for rough cuts and final cuts encourages learners to stay actively communicative with their creative team throughout the post-production process while providing ample opportunities to receive feedback prior to submitting their Final Cut. Exposure to culturally diverse filmmakers through an exploration of world cinema also helps provide new insights into techniques that can expand filmmakers’ approaches to complex editing situations. For example, after watching Santosh Dahal’s films, talking with him, and reading his paper, Rediscovering Inner Peace: The Power of Slow Cinema in a Fast-Paced World, my approach to editing Universal Understanding of Grief  became more patient, letting the performances breathe with each take. His stylistic and theory-based approach framed time-based media in a new light, demonstrating the influence of a range of perspectives in personal and professional development.

Exposure to a range of occupations in the field is also important when attempting to engage young learners with a content area. Partnering with MDCP and Valley College, I helped facilitate field trips to the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools’ Communications Department, KVCR, and Valley College’s Film, Television, and Media program to showcase the range of skillsets students needed to have to maximize their employability and it paid dividends in increasing their work ethic. 

Having worked at primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions, I’ve become uniquely suited to employing teaching strategies across grade levels, connecting students with age-appropriate resources. and introducing a wide range of learners to opportunities beyond the classroom that can enhance their professional development and marketability. An advocate for media literacy standardization across grade levels, it is my hope that aspiring media professionals exiting my program will challenge the medium and move it toward an era of innovation and experimentation while providing accessibility for all.