I think of myself as a "Provocateur" of Psychology (as opposed to "professor".)  The most common meaning of provocateur is "one who incites others to riot or revolution".  However, I am not interested in starting riots in the classroom.  The Latin root of the word, provocare, which means, "to call forth", is closer to what I see as my role in the classroom.  My job is to call forth the knowledge within you and encourage you to add to that knowledge by asking provocative questions.  You will be asked many questions in this course, some factual and some reflective.  All of the questions have one purpose, to prompt you to make the knowledge of Psychology personal by giving your voice to it.

 A lot of the things that I do in my courses will make much more sense to you if you understand the assumptions that I operate from.  In no particular order they are:

1. The teacher is not responsible for the student's learning, the student is.

2.   The teacher is responsible for facilitating the student's learning by:
   

3. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH.  Learning requires a sufficient investment of time and effort.

4. Learning proceeds most efficiently when the students know what they should know and how they are doing.  Learning is difficult enough without having to play "guess what the teacher wants me to know".