From my earliest childhood days, I have always had an enthusiasm for and a sense of wonder about the natural world. Accordingly, my teaching begins with the enthusiasm that I bring to the classroom.  If I am not excited about the material in my course, how can I expect my students to commit themselves to my class? I agree with William Butler Yeats, who said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

One of my major goals is to encourage my students to broaden their interests and become more inquisitive individuals, capable of critically assessing the subject matter at hand in written and oral format.  I want my students to learn how to be life long learners. Additionally, I also want my students to master the “facts” taught in the course.

I try to emphasize the ideas, experiments, results and reasoning that led to the currently accepted models and theories in biology.