My approach to teaching revolves around three key core pedagogical values: inclusion, responsiveness, and stimulation. First and foremost, I believe in making the classroom a space within which all voices can participate - only then can we claim to realise the Socratic ideal of deliberation. Secondly, I apply a responsive approach teaching, which includes both adapting to student interests in the classroom itself and being open and efficient beyond the classroom, such as when it comes to supervision and marking. Last but certainly not least I'm committed to engaging students through providing them with genuine intellectual challenges, both in terms of the material covered and through student/teacher engagement in the classroom. This sense of challenge and achievement was crucial to my own enjoyment as a student and I hope to provide a similarly stimulating and enriching experience for many more students in future.
UGST4028 Democratic Freedom and its Enemies, Central European University, Spring 2025, TA
Lead Professor: Michael Ignatieff
POLS5074 Scope and Methods in Political Science, Central European University, Winter 2024, TA
Lead Professor: Robert Sata
POLS5896 Scope and Methods in Political Science, Central European University, Winter 2024, TA
Lead Professor: Robert Sata
YELC6001 Getting Started as a TA & Teaching at CEU, Central European University, Winter 2024
Instructor: Michael Kozakowski
Throughout my own academic journey, I've benefitted massively from a huge range of advice and resources selflessly provided by others from across the world and across the web. In a similar spirit, I've included links to a crop of helpful sources below:
Advice
For whether you should do a PhD in political theory, see Alison McQueen's insightful blog here. She also has a great collection of other resources on her website.
For six great tips for being an effective graduate student in the field, see Bruno Leipold's blog here.
For how to apply agile working principles to academia, see Katy Peplin's piece here.
For some inspiring notes on productivity, see Heather Demarest's collection here.
Resources
Many of these are written by philosophers, but the same principles (roughly) apply.
For a great collection of resources from a practicing philosopher, see Elise Woodard's website here.
For a similarly excellent range of resources (for both graduate and undergraduate students), have a look at Eleonore Neufeld's website here.
For a nice selection of other resources (selected by an actual grad student) see Liam Livesley's page here.
Tools
For presentations, try using Canva instead of Powerpoint - it's far more visually arresting.
For organising myself, I've found Obsidian really useful.
Lastly, if you're not already using a citation-management system, I'd definitely recommend getting one. I use Zotero, which even lets you highlight and take notes without leaving the app.