header image

About Me

Teaching Philosophy
Stacy Nekula Gresell

  • Communication concepts and theories are imminently applicable to the lives of students.
  • Students learn better when fully engaged.
  • Students are more active learners when different teaching strategies are utilized.
  • An expressed passion for lifelong learning translates to students.

Becoming better public speakers and communicators are valuable life skills no matter what the future may hold for students. The SCANS Report, researched and distributed by the Federal Government in 1995, found that recent college graduates were lacking in four major areas: presentation skills, organizational skills, writing skills and the ability to think outside of defined parameters. The communication discipline can handily address each of these deficits. Communication concepts and theories can easily be applied to the lives of students in a meaningful and interesting way while pursuing a focused improvement of these abilities.

Students learn better when they have the opportunity to fully participate in the educational process. Therefore, my classes are active. Students may find themselves involved in small group activities, larger group activities, problem solving interactives, group games, small and large group discussion, out of class observations, interactive role-play, and other participatory actions. Lecture on course material is not simply redundant of assigned readings. I actively research and incorporate relevant, current research findings and questions into class lecture and encourage discussion throughout. Students learn to question and support their ideology.

I’m heavily influenced by my experience with at-risk teenagers, my research interests in how the human brain learns, and Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Therefore, I prepare each class so that students have the opportunity to explore different learning styles including visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. I use a variety of methods to illustrate concepts including interactive games, video, audio, and guest speakers.

Further, I believe that passion and enthusiasm translates. I clearly convey my fondness of the communication discipline with students. I am a dedicated student of lifelong learning and am able to connect the excitement they experience in the classroom to the educational possibilities that lie before them. I consistently pursue faculty development in an effort to remain fresh and current in the classroom as well as to practice what I preach.

Finally, I believe that students have something to teach me. As long as this value remains at the forefront of my approach to the classroom, I believe I will remain an open and interactive instructor. What students bring to the educational exchange cannot be discounted, as it’s often inspiring!

toxic-waste1