Dr. Jelani M. Favors’ Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is a craft that takes dedication, passion, and a connection with your students. Since entering the academy in 2006, most of my professional appointments have been at teaching intensive institutions. In my many years spent in the college classroom as an instructor I have diligently worked to improve my craft and to form lasting bonds with my students.

I am a social movement historian and I bring that training with me as I engage with my students. I often emphasize the “bottom up” perspective of history and the political strivings of marginalized groups in America. In doing so, I strive to highlight the promise and pain of the American experience. Many of my students are transfixed by contemporary developments in our nation that illustrate our continuing struggles with racial turmoil, intolerance, and bigotry of all kinds. I am honored to serve as a historical guide for my students and to introduce them to the complexities of our past and how the present is a reflection of our failures as a nation to confront and solve these critical problems.

I use a wide range of instruction methods in my classes such as small group discussion, group projects, and various multimedia approaches. I truly believe in experiential learning and where I can, I have always sought to expand my courses beyond the traditional classroom space. Field trips beyond the four walls of our classroom further contextualize and interpret our learning objectives and provide powerful experiences that reinforce my students understanding of the past.

Past evaluations from both my students and colleagues reflect that my approach to instruction is effective, passionate, and intellectually stimulating. I delight in the fact that my students find themselves within the historical narratives that I cover, and they are empowered by it. My career in academia has produced incredible achievements in the areas of teaching and I am honored that my students and peers have taken notice of my efforts. In 2021 I was the recipient of the Alice J. Smith Award which recognizes overall excellence in classroom instruction at Clayton State University and in 2020 I was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Mari Ann Banks Award for Equity and Inclusion at Clayton State. A large part of receiving this award was based upon my commitment to social justice issues both in and outside the classroom.

In 2014, I was personally invited by Pulitzer Prize winning historian Taylor Branch to co-teach a course entitled, “Citizenship and Freedom: The Civil Rights Era,” at the University of BaltimoreThe course featured in-class interviews with legends of the movement such as Julian Bond, Bob Moses, Diane Nash, and Harry Belafonte who supplemented our instruction on the civil rights movement with testimony about their experiences as activists and leaders. My experiences in this course further increased my zeal for finding new ways to reach and teach my students about the powerful lessons found within our nation’s history.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in teaching courses on the post-civil rights era and the rise of the hip hop generation, the history of Black student activism, the history of the Nadir and the early civil rights movement, the history of African Americans in the building of the New South, and the legacy of Black institution building in America.