Kara Cavel, Ph.D., LICSW

As an educator in the field of social work, I strive to create a learning environment that embodies the values of the profession.  In my first teaching evaluation, the evaluator who observed me teaching a class commented that I presented myself as “warm and competent” and that “students felt comfortable participating in class.”  She also commented on my ability to “elicit students’ reflections on a challenging topic”, and that I “help them stay engaged with the central concepts of the material.”  These evaluative comments are not only complimentary, but also capture the essence of my teaching style which intends to model the skills needed in the field of social work.  Providing a classroom experience that emphasizes respectful listening, curiosity, playfulness, and critical thinking creates a learning environment that allows students to take notice of the equal importance of process content in relationship to course content. I believe that students co-create with the instructor the nature of the learning environment which is achieved by collaborating with students regarding classroom norms and expectations. In addition, just as social workers commit to responsible and ethical practice with clients, when teaching, I discuss my responsibilities to students in an effort to provide a similar framework and structure to the overall learning experience.

My teaching emphasizes the importance of critical thinking through the application of knowledge within an interactive or experiential event that expands students’ social work knowledge and skills through the process of creating meaning and broadening their perspectives and understanding of important social issues affecting individuals, families, organizations, and communities. Creating opportunities for students that establishes a link between conceptual knowledge and its application to social work helps students gain a more flexible and critical way of thinking about the core concepts embedded within social work courses.  Critical thinking is a crucial skill for students to develop because social work as a helping profession is an extremely complex one.  In striving to help my students think beyond the parameters of the knowledge gained by reading textbooks, I provide opportunities for students to self reflect on factors both past and present that have influenced their beliefs, values, and biases and what of these have changed or remained over time.  Self reflection is intended to help students understand themselves better in all of their complexity and diversity, leading to an improved understanding of the complex and diverse nature of others.