MELISSA LEFKOWITZ
  • about
  • FILMS
  • RESEARCH
  • TEACHING
My primary goal in the classroom is to encourage students to draw connections between course material and their own lives. Without a tangible connection to their lived worlds, the material exists in abstraction. I believe that once students cultivate a sense of belonging to the work they engage with, they can utilize it in whatever field they pursue. To foster this, I follow the mantra, “Don’t be a sage on the stage; be a guide on the side.” To me, this means facilitating learning environments that promote a mixture of lecturing and active learning, and offers students the opportunity to uncover material, as opposed to me simply covering it. 
Graduate Teaching Assistant, New York University, NY

I served as a teaching assistant for the following courses, teaching sections and working with students to ensure their success in both undergraduate and graduate-level courses. 

Graduate Courses
2020     Video Production Seminar II, Profs. Pegi Vail and Cheryl Furjanic, Dept. of Anthropology
2019     Video Production Seminar I, Profs. Pegi Vail and Cheryl Furjanic, Dept. of Anthropology
 
Undergraduate Courses
2018     Cultures and Contexts: China, Prof. Laurence Coderre, Dept. of East Asian Studies
2017     Cultures and Contexts: Caribbean, Prof. Aisha Khan, Dept. of Anthropology
2017     Cultures and Contexts: India, Prof. Tejaswini Ganti, Dept. of Anthropology
2016     Human Society & Culture, Prof. Murat Altun, Dept. of Anthropology
 
Course Assistant, New York University, NY
​

As a course assistant, I managed the transition to fully digitize films for a screening-centered film course. I also taught one full-length graduate lecture as part of the semester-long seminar. 

2020     Culture and Media 1 Seminar, Prof. Faye Ginsburg, Dept. of Anthropology 
Professional Development Training
​
​
​2021     Preparing Future Faculty II: The Art & Craft of Teaching, NYU
2020     Preparing Future Faculty I: The Art & Craft of Teaching, NYU
2016     GSAS Teaching Conference, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, NYU
2016     GSAS Core Curriculum Training, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, NYU
2016     Teaching Assistant Training, Department of Anthropology, NYU 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • about
  • FILMS
  • RESEARCH
  • TEACHING