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Return to Natalie
Kononenko's Home Page
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
When I first came to the University of Virginia, an older colleague took one look at me and cited a line from a Russian play which states that God willed Natasha to be a pedagogue. I think he instinctively recognized what I now know to be true, namely that I am a natural teacher, that I am inherently fascinated by the process of information transmission and acquisition
I started teaching while still a graduate student and my many years of experience have taught me that knowledge is of two kinds: facts and skills. My goal as a teacher is to impart both types of knowledge to my students. I want them to know as much as possible about Russian and Slavic folklore and culture. I want them to understand that Russian perceptions of time, of the relationship between the sexes, of obligations between age groups are very different from our own. With growing globalization, I want them to know the specifics of the Russian and Slavic worldview so that, if they conduct business in Eastern Europe, or install environmental safety monitors in the former Soviet Union, or go on a diplomatic mission to Russia, they will know what to expect. I want students to be able to take the knowledge I gave them and build on it, adjusting to new situations as they arise. To accomplish these goals, I try to present as much information as possible in an easily retained form. I am always seeking to keep my examples current, searching not only scholarly literature, but also newspapers and the popular press and traveling to Russia and Ukraine to bring back new and up-to-date materials. As I lecture, I draw comparisons with and contrasts to American culture and to concepts from the students' own lives. I try to provide readings, visual stimuli such as photographs, and opportunities to do meaningful projects such as the collection and analysis of oral interviews. My former students work not only in academe and the diplomatic corps, but also for Amnesty International in Kosovo, a cosmetics firm in Moscow, a car dealership in the Urals, a Washington law firm retained by the Republic of Kazakhstan, to give but a few examples. I consider their success proof that my goals are achieved.
Knowledge of a world area is very important, but so is acquisition of skills. Critical thinking is the hallmark of college instruction and I structure my courses so that students must digest and analyze information. All projects, papers, and exams allow for multiple answers, as long as they are well argued and supported with data. Instruction in other skills depends on student needs and, as I discover a particular need, I modify my courses to meet it. Thus, in the past several years I have spent extra time on writing, requiring short papers virtually every other week and allowing students to use my courses to fulfill their second writing requirement. To satisfy this requirement, students write an article-length paper. They submit a draft, receive a critique and write a final version. More recently, difficulties with reading large volumes of material have begun to surface and, with the help of the Teaching Resource Center (TRC), I am looking for ways to address these.
As a teaching professional, I feel it is my job to know what students will need, not just now, but twenty years, if not more, down the road and to be constantly seeking the best ways to meet those needs. I feel I must stay current in my field, explore new ways of teaching, and be ever sensitive to students, both individually and as a group.
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