Swimming, Not Sinking: Pedagogical Creativity and the Road to Becoming an Effective IR Teacher

Like many in the discipline, my journey into teaching was more like a newborn baby being thrown into a swimming pool, where I had to “sink or swim.” Because most doctoral programs invest little time into teacher preparation, many, like me, step into a university classroom for the first time with little training. Through trial and error, and by mimicking the techniques of professors I supported as a teaching assistant, I muddled through the beginning of my academic career. It was only after being awarded teacher of the year and tenure that I became more creative in the classroom. Thinking out of the box, I started incorporating unconventional films into my courses. Today I use big popcorn movies to teach Theories of International Relations in a novel way.