Meditations on the Art of Teaching

Learning is a process through which we adapt to the world around us. It is not the result of something done to us but something we do ourselves. The most crucial step in learning, therefore, is choosing to make the effort.  As teachers, we cannot make our students "learn"; we can, however, make it possible and easier for them to do so. We can either ignite or extinguish our students’ curiosity and readiness to learn depending upon attitudes we project in and out of our classrooms.

Teaching and learning are cooperative acts. The teacher not only imparts knowledge, but also equips students with the skills they will need to navigate the uncharted journey of life. It is not just about learning facts or concepts, but about developing habits of thinking and habits of being; for ultimately, an individual’s ontology and epistemology are developed and expanded in the classroom.

Every student is unique. My experience with students from diverse backgrounds and grade levels has made me aware that individuals approach their education with a different set of expectations, experiences, backgrounds, learning capabilities and interests.  The classroom experience is heightened when the subjectivities of each individual is allowed to bubble forth.

Teaching and research are inseparable components of scholarship in higher education. Research contributes to my teaching by supplying dynamic information and experiences to share with students, freeing the classroom experience from an over-reliance on text.  Teaching, in turn, provides contextual questions for my research. The journey of research is also a means by which I attain renewal, growth, inspiration and purpose.

University Courses Taught

UCLA (2003-present)
Geography 156: Geography of Los Angeles
Geography 183: Regional Geography of Europe—Imagining and Organizing Modern European Space
Geography 133: Cultural Geography of the Modern World—A Critical Approach
Geography 125: Global Environment and Health
Geography 128/Urban Studies CM166: Topics in Global Environmentalism
Geography 121: Conservation, Political Ecology, and Environmentalism in the Developing World
Geography 2: Biogeography and Ecology 
Geography 3: Introduction to Cultural and Human Geography
Geography 4: Economic Geography and Globalization
Geography 5: People and the Earth’s Ecosystem—Introduction to Environmental Science
Seminar: The U.S. and Post 9/11 Geopolitics
Seminar: Environmental Ethics—Past, Present, and Future
Seminar: The Collapse of Civilizations due to Environmental Causes

Santa Monica College (2000-present)
Geography 5: Physical Geography
Geography 14: California Geography
Geography 2: Human Geography

California State Dominguez Hills (2001)
Geography 200: Physical Geography
Geography 360: Geography of North America

Class Syllabi and Course Web Pages

RateMyProfessors.com is an independent web site where students are able to anonomously submit evaluations of professors in various teaching institutions across the country. Santa Monica College students participate in this program and their evaluations of Professor Mark Troy Burnett can be reviewed at: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=276224