Mitra Rastegar

I believe the value of a liberal arts education is in making engaged, critical and responsible citizens of the world, who can place their own perspectives, experiences, and histories in relation to those of others. Students in my classroom are challenged to recognize and reconsider what shapes their common sense understandings, to test various lenses for viewing the world around them, and to become confident and effective contributors to significant debates in society at large. I foster appreciative and critical engagement with texts through guided classroom discussions around key questions, while also encouraging consideration of the underlying processes of knowledge production. I build on these critical thinking skills through a care to the fundamental skills of reading and writing, which ideally are developed over the course of a lifetime. Ultimately, I seek to instill the skills that students need to take a lead in their own education, creating a setting where teaching and learning flow in multiple directions and enhancing the learning experience for all.