Kelly M. Jones
November 2011
Dept. of Agricultural & Resource Economics
University of California, Berkeley
Teaching Statement
While I certainly enjoy undertaking original research, my draw to an academic career is based also on
my enjoyment of teaching. It is very rewarding to me to share my enthusiasm for development
economics and global health with the next generation of researchers and policy-makers. I have provided
here a statement of my teaching philosophy, and a summary of my teaching experience.
Teaching Philosophy:
Ultimately, my goal is for students to succeed in my courses. I believe this requires three key efforts:
grab their attention, keep them engaged, and help them succeed.
Often, students of economic development may be already interested in, if not passionate about, the
course topics. But for some, studying quantitative methods can be a challenge. I like to incorporate a
lecture at the start of the course that is slightly outside the course’s scope to situate the topics we will
discuss as an important piece of a bigger picture. I also generally try to incorporate projects from my
own research into classroom examples and activities. I’ve found that this stimulated student interest,
sparking several “after class” discussions between students and myself about my research and their own
research ideas.
Once interested, keeping students engaged can require efforts beyond the classroom. My experience of
building a course website taught me the importance of meeting students where they are -- and today
that means electronically and online. Meeting student expectations of complete online access to course
materials paid rewards in students’ appreciation and attention. I also learned that while email response
boundaries are necessary for large classes, an overly strict email policy can have drawbacks.
As a graduate student instructor (GSI), I found that office hours are a great opportunity for offering
individualized encouragement and guidance to keep students engaged. Certainly, students bring to the
classroom different levels of confidence and natural ability regarding mathematical pursuits. One
student with whom I worked began the semester by visiting me and saying she wasn’t good at math and
didn’t know why she was majoring in economics. In truth, she did struggle with the material. But her
diligence and our regular meetings paid off with good marks on her assignments. I continued to
encourage her and her confidence grew; by semester’s end, she earned an A+ in the course.
In the future, I hope to continue to provide such individualized attention to the extent possible. I also
hope that other techniques I’ve learned will help ensure my students’ success, even in larger classroom
settings. I’ve found that nothing helps students succeed in learning new quantitative techniques as well
as practice, practice, practice. I create opportunities for practice both in the classroom and on
assignments. Though fill-in-the-blank worksheets may seem too elementary for university students,
after using them to walk undergraduates through the steps of a challenging mathematical model,
several students commented to me how helpful the exercise was.
Helping students to succeed also requires providing plenty of external incentives for students to study
the material and practice -- even graduate students need assignments, deadlines and grades. Some
ways I set clear expectations that students complete the required readings on schedule are to discuss
the readings in lecture, either by questioning students in the large group, or breaking out into smallgroup activities, which creates social pressure to be “up to speed.” Finally, I explicitly check the grade
book for underperforming students early in the semester, and contact them immediately to discuss their
performance and potentially learn about any relevant issues. I’ve found that early intervention can
make a big difference in course outcomes for struggling students.
I hope that when students complete my courses, they’ve gained an appreciation for the importance of
quantitative investigations in the field of development economics. My aim is to ensure that they also
have the technical knowledge to perform such investigations with reasonable rigor, or at a minimum, to
assess the quality of quantitative research they read. I believe that quantitative results are the key to
getting a policy-maker’s ear, particularly in regard to international development. My courses will not
only provide students a solid foundation for future study in the field of development economics, but
also equip them for a successful career in policy or beyond.
Teaching Experience:
Beginning as early as high school, I have been engaged in teaching in some form. As a high school
student I worked as a peer-tutor and as an undergraduate worked as a private tutor for high-school
students. My passion for teaching prompted my completion of a teaching certification for secondary
education, in tandem with my undergraduate degree in mathematics. But of all my teaching
experiences, I have most preferred teaching university students, both graduate and undergraduate.
Working as a graduate student instructor (GSI) at UC Berkeley, I have most recently taught “advanced
topics in economic development”, which introduced theoretical models for a variety of developmentrelated issues and investigated in-depth the empirical literature related to each. Topics included: labor
markets, fertility, health, credit, theories of growth, etc. This course required motivating students on the
topic, teaching the purpose and mechanics of basic theoretical models, including having students build
their own, and explaining and critically reviewing empirical research papers.
I have also taught introductory applied econometrics to undergraduates at UC Berkeley and to master’s
students at JHU SAIS (School of Advanced International Studies). In both cases, students were required
to learn the mechanics of basic multivariate regression and the conditions for identifying causal
estimates, as well as the application of econometrics using Stata on individual empirical assignments. In
addition to preparing and teaching group sections, I was responsible for creating and grading empirical
assignments.
During my time as a GSI, I served also as a mentor to students from my classes, who met with me
periodically to discuss my educational and professional experiences, and to seek guidance on their own
decisions. I advised two students on research for their senior theses and employed another student as a
research assistant on my dissertation work. In addition to lecturing, it is these one-on-one interactions
with students that make teaching a truly fulfilling experience for me. I believe my teaching is fulfilling for
my students as well, as my course evaluations consistently rated more than 6 out of 7 possible points.
In an academic position I would most enjoy teaching topics related to the micro-economics of
development. This could include quantitative methodologies courses, review courses of topics in
development, or topic-specific courses focused on poverty, population, or health. I could also teach
health or labor economics, or introductory microeconomics, if needed.