Does she really want us to call her Susan and not Dr. Spangler?
Yes, please call me Susan. I have a Ph.D., I am a doctor, but I want you to call me Susan. Do not call other professors by their first name unless they tell you to do so. I am telling you to do so. It is a conscious pedagogical choice. My teaching philosophy and the conscious pedagogical choices I make are based on social constructivist theory, which holds, among other things, that knowledge is created when people come together and share their ideas. I believe that we are all developing teachers, all equals in that regard, and the title of Dr. undermines the environment that I would like to create in the classroom. I want to create an environment in which we all feel comfortable taking risks, speaking our minds, and exploring opportunities as they present themselves to us. I try to be transparent in my teaching. That is, I try to explain exactly where my approach and methods come from philosophically. I think its important in an education classroom, especially when I am practicing the
