First of all, I believe that a good teacher has to be genuinely excited about the material and topics she teaches. Students need this enthusiasm from their professor in order to become excited about the material themselves. For me this is quite natural because I am very passionate about my own research and economics in general. The excitement that I bring to the classroom is contagious and I can tell the students are excited by the sparks in eyes.

 Secondly, well-prepared class notes are a must. The notes an instructor brings to class must be well-structured so that students are be able to follow the logic of the talk. It is amazingly easy to lose students’ attention with a poorly structured lecture. When preparing the notes I always try to put myself in the position of a student in my class. What would be the best examples I could give to help students in understanding the material? Are there any real life examples that would both appropriately convey the material and keep the students' focus? What are the most obvious pitfalls for my students? What are the probable questions I will be asked? I find an effective way to prepare is to break the material into logical steps while preparing my notes. During this process I can check each step making sure that the movement from one to the next is clear.

Thirdly, I think that it is very important for a teacher to care about their students. While in class I pay close attention to the students' reactions. They should know that they are able to ask any questions they might have without being embarrassed. This is particularly important in introductory classes where students come from very diverse backgrounds and many of them are intimidated by economics. For example, I ask for questions from students after explaining each major concept. If there are no questions but their demeanor seems confused I will ask if there are questions again and pause for a minute. This sends a strong message that I truly expect and welcome their questions. Whenever a question is asked I try to help the student who asked it to answer the question for themself by providing helping hints and making the student think about potential answers. I also ask questions when explaining concepts to try to get the students more involved in the class. While doing this I frequently find that I may need to add more information to the questions slowly to allow the students to work through the answer themselves. I try at all times to make the students more confident and comfortable. I feel that this will nurture their interest in the subject and create an environment in which learning is easy.

The last, but not the least, principal of my teaching philosophy is integrating teaching techniques other than lecturing into the classroom. For example, I like for the students to participate in class discussions about relevant recent news articles whenever the topic permits. This helps them understand how economics can impact their daily life. The addition of group work on case studies or debates is also helpful for the students' learning experience.