Patrick Michael Casey
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My teaching philosophy is built around one core idea: education is less about always getting the right answers, and more about learning to ask the right questions. I endeavor to organize each class meeting around a key, orientating question; one that can be explored but perhaps not completely answered. I feel that by beginning each class meeting with an orientating question, the class is provided with an underlying structure and sense of continuity that is important. At the same time, this format also allows for a lot of freedom to discuss different topics within the broader question and, more importantly, to discuss the same topics in different ways. Ultimately, I wish for my students to walk away from our time together with new questions to explore.
In order to achieve my goals for the students, there are several elements I strive for in the learning environment. First, I want the classroom to be a safe environment for the sharing and exploration of ideas. It is not uncommon in a sociology class for someone to share an idea or attitude with which others may disagree. My goal is to make the learning environment one in which students feel comfortable expressing these ideas, but also in having those ideas challenged or even refuted. In pursuit of this goal, I focus on establishing rapport in the classroom, both between myself and the students and between them. This not to say that I expect them all to become best friends, but rather that they develop a sense of camaraderie, so that differences of opinion between them can be discussed without becoming divisive and toxic. This is easier said than done, but there are a couple of strategies that I employ to ensure that things never get out of hand. Out of habit, I typically play devil’s advocate during student discussions, which enables me to challenge student expectations and stifle groupthink. Likewise, I often shift from one point of view to another during a discussion. I find that this enables me to rearticulate points and counter-points made by students without positioning myself in one camp or another. As an example, I recall a class discussion that ensued after watching a video clip about the formation of street gangs in Los Angeles. One argument from the video was that white racism in the 50s and 60s prevented young black boys from joining clubs such as the Boy Scouts, and that this social rejection, combined with the absence of other avenues for positive socialization and role modeling, resulted in a generation of young black men who only found belonging and acceptance in the newly formed Crips and Bloods street gangs. Things became tense when a white student scoffed at the argument, suggesting that the onus was on members of the black community to step-up to the challenge and create their own “Boy Scouts.” This argument provoked an immediate reaction, as many viewed it as a form of victim blaming. I deescalated the situation by rearticulating the white student’s comment in a way that made it seem less accusatory and more commonsensical, while also injecting a critique of the 20/20 hindsight upon which it stood.
In keeping with these strategies, it is important that I as the instructor express a sincere interest in the thoughts and ideas of my students on the topics at hand. In particular, I seek to position myself not only as the teacher, but as someone who can learn from them as well. I find this to be more useful and conducive to student learning than were I to present myself as the final authority on every matter, which would not be in line with my overall teaching philosophy. When I think back to the professors and teachers who have had the biggest impact on me as a student, the most common thread running through them seems to be their ability to make the subject matter seem totally relevant and applicable to the world around me. It goes without saying that I want the teacher to be knowledgeable about the topic, but what has impressed me the most were those teachers who drew me into the topic and made me want to turn around and teach others about it. I firmly believe that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it. For that reason, I require that each student take part in the teaching process. I usually do this by assigning a reading for that day and having one student, or sometimes two, lead us in a discussion of the piece, complete with their own questions to explore.
NARRATIVE
In teaching, I take a student centered approach, endeavoring to get the students thinking and engaged with the subject matter. I like to employ more ‘hands on’ methods of getting the students to see the relevance of sociology in their everyday lives. For example, when teaching about social class, stratification, and life chances, I like to have students seek out and photograph the same or similar food items at different sellers. Some students will go to grocery stores, often in different neighborhoods, and others go to smaller food markets like those typically found in low income neighborhoods. The students take a photo of the food item and the price, which I compile together into a slide show so we can compare them in class. By showing that a gallon of milk can be as much as two dollars more expensive at the corner market in a low income neighborhood as compared with the new supermarket in the suburbs, students see firsthand the little ways that social class and social location can impact their lives.
The way I structure my courses illustrates my teaching philosophy. Class meetings often involve the introduction of the basic orientating question for that day, followed by a 10-15 minute lecture to introduce key concepts and provide background and context. We then move on to a group discussion of the assigned reading, with student participation at the forefront. I see my role as one of steering the conversation back on track if it becomes too tangential or anecdotal, helping students to see the points of overlap and divergence in their comments and views, ultimately connecting the dots of a much larger picture, challenging their thinking by providing counter-evidence or counter-points to their reasoning, and finally of nudging them toward new questions.
An example of this can be found in a course I designed: Muslims in America. While putting this course together, I knew that I needed to handle the topic of violence and terrorism early on in the semester. I placed this topic in the third week, comprised of two class meetings. The first class is structured around the question, “Why is Islamic terrorism so prevalent?”, conversely, the second class is built around the question, “Why is Islamic terrorism so rare?” The reading assigned for the first class explores the sources and motivations of what we commonly refer to as “Islamic” terrorism, and student centered discussion of the text allows participants to work together to come to an understanding of the historical, geo-political, and economic factors underpinning this ostensibly religious violence. The second class meeting takes the discussion in a very different direction. The assigned reading provides data (from the FBI, no less) which suggests that most politically motivated violence (i.e. terrorism) is carried out by non-Muslims, and that at approximately 1/5 of the world’s population, Muslims are responsible for less than a 1/5 of the world’s violence. I find that organizing class meetings around one thematic question provides a useful keystone with which I can begin and end each class.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
STUDENT WORK ON DISPLAY
The above image is from the Spring 2016 USF Sociology Open House. Each student in my class, Muslims in America, designed posters for display. The posters featured original data from a research project that we completed as a class. Students collected survey data on eighty-five Muslim Americans, including in-depth interviews with seventeen respondents.
STUDENT CLASS PAPERS
Students also used the data they collected to write academic style research papers. Some of these papers employed statistical data from our survey, others used interview data, and still others found ways to combine both. After completing a rough draft, each student received detailed feedback from me, as well as a review of their work from at least one other classmate. By reading and critiquing each other's papers they were better able to understand how an instructor would approach their own work. The above image contains the titles of a handful of these papers.
SEEING SOCIOLOGY ESSAYS
When teaching Introduction to Sociology I often require my students to write and compile a collection of Seeing Sociology Essays. In these essays, students are asked to find an image that relates to a topic or concept from class and then write a brief essay in which they explore the connection between what we learn as a class and what they see in the world around them. The above image shows two such essays.
SYLLABI
Intro to Sociology
Contemporary Social Problems
Sociology of Religion
Muslims in America
CURRICULUM VITAE
Patrick Michael Casey
Department of Sociology
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave., CPR 107
Tampa, FL 33620
Cell 832-434-2658
EDUCATION
2013-Present University of South Florida
PhD in Sociology
Dissertation Title: “American Conversion to Islam: Building Bridges, Forging Bonds”
Expected Graduation Date: May 2018
2013: University of Houston
Master of Arts in Sociology
Thesis: “The American Muslim Identity"
2003: Oklahoma State University
Bachelor of Science in Sociology
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Race & Ethnicity: Racialization, Ethnic and Multi-ethnic Identities, Muslim Americans
Religion: Religious Identities, Islam in America
Specialty Methods: Qualitative and Narrative Analysis
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2014-2016: University of South Florida
Instructor of Record:
Contemporary Social Problems
Intro to Sociology
Sociology of Religion
Muslims in America
2011-2013: University of Houston
Teaching Assistant:
Intro to Sociology
Marriage and Family
Social Stratification
Sociological Theory
Sociology of Health
2003-2011: International School of Bucharest, Romania
Teacher of English and Sociology
In Romania I spent eight years teaching English to students of other languages (grades 6-12):
School employed the internationally recognized Cambridge curriculum. I worked with students at various levels of English proficiency, from absolute beginners to those at an advanced level.
Three years teaching Sociology to high school students:
Sociology syllabus included: culture and socialization, research methods, social stratification, mass media, power and authority, family, education, and crime and deviance. Students were assessed externally by Cambridge International Examinations.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2015-2016 Academic Year: Sociology PhD Student Representative
Spring 2016: Guest instructor in four undergraduate courses: Intro to Sociology (x2), Power and Politics, Religious Extremism
Fall 2015: Guest speaker: Teaching Sociology graduate course; Guest instructor: Immigrants to America
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Casey, Patrick Michael and James C. Cavendish. “Religiosity, Social Networks, and Attitudes toward Homosexuality among American Muslims.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, Seattle, Washington.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2016. “Muslim Americans, Racialization, and Islamophobia.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Seattle, Washington.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2015. “Covering the Muslim Self: Muslim Americans and Stigma Negotiation” Presented at the American Sociological Association, Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtable”, Chicago, Illinois.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2015. “‘The Monster Mosque of Manhattan’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Coverage of the Ground Zero Mosque” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, Chicago, Illinois.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2015. “Status Shifts: Researcher multi-positionality and Respondent self-presentation in a study of Muslim Americans” Presented at the Couch and Stone Symposium, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2014. “(Re)Defining Islam in America.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, San Francisco, California.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2014. “‘…and Inspire the Believers’: Analyzing AlQaeda’s 9/11 Narrative.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, San Francisco, California.
Casey, Patrick Michael. 2013. “The American Muslim Identity: Fundamentally Conflicted or Just Misrepresented?” Presented at the University of South Florida Graduate Student Conference: “Identities and inequalities in a globalizing world”, Tampa, Florida.
INNOVATION AND SUCCESS
In the summer of 2015, I taught an Introduction to Sociology course over a short, six week session. Overall, this was my best teaching experience at USF. A lot of things went really well with this class. I attribute this first of all to the fact that I had such a great group of students to work with, but there were a few teaching choices I made that I think contributed as well.
One thing that worked great was “flipping” the classroom the second week. I did this by having students work in groups of three to prepare a few sentences explaining a sociological concept, an example of it from daily life, and a discussion question. The week before I had sent around a sign-up sheet with a variety of topics selected from three chapters: two of them covering basic concepts such as culture, socialization, social groups, and social structure. These chapters were chosen because the subject matter is not particularly challenging. The third chapter was about medical sociology, which I chose because many of the students were majoring in a medical field. During each class that week, I integrated their comments and questions into the intentionally sparse lecture I had prepared, resulting in a very student oriented approach. This got every student involved early on, and I think really set the tone for the class. I encourage lots of student participation, and I had more voluntary participation in this class, and from a greater number of students, than I have had in previous classes.
I also want to say a bit about my handling of class discussions, because they were such a big part of this class. I encouraged discussion in every class. Many of these were interspersed with lecture, sometimes directed by me but sometimes I took a step back and allowed the students to respond directly to each other. At the end of each unit I would choose a few students, especially the quieter ones, give them discussion questions/prompts and have them lead a discussion. These discussions could last between 15-20 minutes, and I would typically sit at a student desk and just observe. From time to time I would interject if I thought the discussion was off track or if we were missing a larger point. This technique proved to be very effective at helping some of the shyer students develop a greater sense of self confidence when it came to public speaking, and brought fresh voices and perspectives to the forefront.
STUDENT EVALUATIONS
FALL 2015 - SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
Professor Casey is a GREAT teacher! He not only expressed deep interest in the course content, he connected very well to the students. The class discussion made the class enjoyable and entertaining, and the combination of lecture, discussion, visual presentation and video kept me engaged.
FALL 2016 - SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Professor Casey was an amazing professor that really facilitated a respectful and safe environment to learn about some of the most controversial subjects in modern times. I was a little apprehensive at first about the class because of fear of constant arguing and bashing of ideas, but nothing like that happened at all. Definitely the most professional and caring professor I had this semester.
SUMMER - 2016 INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY
Professor Casey made the class environment comfortable for sharing and discussions, making everyone feel welcome, even in a class as short as 6 weeks. He learned all our names in the first week, and made a point to email students feedback about presentations, discussions, and the like. He was a wonderful professor and a class I took mostly just for the credit ended up becoming one of the most interesting and engaging I've had, mostly because of Professor Casey.
See the full video here.