When I tell people I’m an economist, many people tell me they didn’t understand economics when they took courses in it.  My goal as a professor of economics is to have my students leave the class understanding economics and how to apply it to real life.  I realize that some students understand things better when they are put in mathematical terms, while some students prefer a more graphical or intuitive explanation, while still others like to have real world examples to relate to.  I provide all these angles in my teaching.  For example, the intermediate microeconomics classes at UCLA tend to be fairly mathematical, so I explain the concepts with graphs and ‘plain English’ explanations so that the students can understand what they are calculating and why it is useful.  I also like to mix in current events when possible.  When students learned about the effects of taxes, I would mention recent changes in, say, the gasoline tax, and talk about the expected effects on gasoline consumption and related markets.

As a student, I always enjoyed hearing my professors discuss the research or other work they were doing that related to the topics we were learning in class.  It helped me to learn how theoretical concepts could actually be applied to real world problems.  I plan to talk about my research and that of others to my students.  I also want to include students in the research process by having them work as my Research Assistants.  Rather than simply give them tasks to perform, I will explain how each task fits into the project as a whole.  This way, they can learn how a research paper is put together, step-by-step.  I also hope to mentor students in their own research.

One of the things I most enjoy about teaching is personal interaction with the students.  I always make time for my students, often scheduling appointments with them outside of my regular office hours if they need extra help.  Being able to work with students individually and seeing them progress is the main reason I started doing private tutoring through the department in my spare time.  I enjoy finding the best way to describe a concept to a student so that they understand it and how to apply it.  I get a rush of pride when a student I am helping tells me, “I get it!”  I also liked hearing about students’ plans for their college and future careers, sharing my experiences with them, and giving them advice on how to accomplish their goals.  I am an advisor to my students as well as a teacher.

I find that technology is a useful in teaching.  This past year, my students especially liked when I would type up what we went over in section and post class notes, complete with graphs, on the web.  I plan to continue using class web sites, e-mail, web bulletin boards, and other technology to help my students learn.  This can be especially helpful for commuter students who may not be able to make it to campus.  As I was a commuter student myself during college and grad school, I know the importance of being able to contact the professor about simple questions without having to make the sometimes long and inconvenient trip to campus.

In summary, my teaching style is very personal and hands-on.  I have several ways of teaching a topic: mathematical and intuitive explanations,  web notes and paper handouts, large lectures and one-on-one sessions.  All this is to help ensure that every student will learn economics and can, at the end of the term, say, “I get it!”