Teaching

My approach to teaching is informed by a variety of classroom experiences, from my undergraduate education at a small liberal arts college in Ukraine and graduate studies in Germany and the US, to serving as a teaching assistant for six courses in different departments at Northwestern University (NU). At NU, I have actively pursued multiple avenues to advance my teaching skills, including faculty mentorship, co-chairing the Graduate Teaching Committee, and participating in teaching programs offered by the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching.

As a political science instructor, I believe every student learns best when they can connect political ideas and phenomena to their own lives, engaging the social science questions analytically and pragmatically. To this end, I developed my teaching philosophy and classroom approach around three main goals: (1) cultivating critical thinking and analytical skills, methodological pluralism, and interdisciplinary learning; (2) creating an inclusive and productive learning environment via active and experiential learning; and (3) designing flexible and skill-oriented assignments in and outside of the classroom. 

As a co-Chair of the Graduate Teaching Committee in the Department of Political Science, I have developed a teaching guide for the graduate students in our department who are at the beginning of their teaching assistant careers. TA Guide: Tips & Tricks contains all the information domestic and international graduate students need to start teaching undergraduate sections. The guide offers concise summaries alongside linked materials on getting started as a TA and becoming an effective and responsive teacher and mentor. It covers planning sections and leading discussions and providing grading and feedback offering a range of practical classroom strategies and teaching approaches, including active learning techniques and sample grading rubrics.  Further sections address establishing and cultivating classroom norms, handling disputes and disagreements, and integrating and navigating the use of AI in teaching and learning. All these sections reflect the department's commitment to the organizing principles of teaching at NU -- that of a student-centric approach and inclusive classroom. 

I am prepared to teach a range of courses on political violence and contentious politics, civil and interstate wars, state-building, social movements, international security, as well as quantitative and qualitative methods. My teaching evaluations and teaching statement are available upon request.