I teach communication the way I have practiced it for more than fifteen years: as a working skill that people use to get hired, keep a job, lead a team, and be understood. My students are not preparing for a hypothetical future. Many of them are working while they study, and they are taking my class because they need to be able to stand up and speak, write something a stranger will read, or manage a message on behalf of an organization. I build every course around that reality.
Clear expectations are the first form of respect I can offer. My syllabi explain the why behind every policy, because students follow rules they understand and resent rules they do not. Deadlines in my courses are firm, and I tell students in the first week that this is practice. The employer who hires them will not extend the deadline either. I would rather they learn that from me, where the stakes are a few points, than from a manager.
I grade against the assignment, never against the room. No student's work is compared to another's, and a perfect score is reserved for work that goes beyond what the assignment asked, not for work that simply met it. Feedback is where most of the teaching happens, so mine is specific: what a choice does for the reader or the audience, what is missing, and what to do next time. I would rather a student earn an honest B with a clear path forward than an A that tells them nothing.
Evidence matters more than claims. In every course, students learn that "I am a strong communicator" is a claim, and a specific story about communicating under pressure is evidence. Citations are not busywork. They are how a professional shows their work, and in my classes they are treated as a matter of academic honesty backed by institutional policy, not as a personal preference.
I am also honest about the tools of the moment. I am completing a graduate degree in AI strategy, and I permit AI in my courses with disclosure and attribution, on the same terms a workplace would. Students learn to use it, cite it, and remain responsible for every word they submit.
Finally, I teach as a person, not a platform. I bring my own media career, my mistakes, and my sense of humor into the room, and I show up for students on the channels where they already are. The goal is that a student leaves my class a little braver on their feet, a little sharper on the page, and certain that someone expected a great deal of them and meant it kindly.
