David S. Goldstein (he/him)

Teaching Professor

B.A. English, University of California, Riverside
M.A. Communication, Stanford University
M.A. American Civilization, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. Comparative Culture, University of California, Irvine

Recipient of the University of Washington Bothell Distinguished Teaching Award, 2007

Phone: 425-352-5378
Email: davidgs@uw.edu | Website
Mailing Box: 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011-8246

Teaching

Students teach themselves when provided the opportunity and motivation; my goal is to provide both. I seek not so much to change minds as to open them, and to teach lifelong critical and analytical skills rather than a set of facts. I rely on small-group exercises to develop students’ abilities in teamwork and problem solving; rarely will they work in isolation. I also emphasize excellence in verbal and written communication.

I try to put students first; to use multiple, complementary pedagogical methods, including technology; to promote cooperation rather than competition in the classroom; to emphasize concepts rather than discrete facts; to remain flexible; to collaborate with colleagues in developing the most effective materials and methods; and to adapt to each student’s and each class’s particular constellation of skills and interests. I aim for an appreciation for complexity; our world is not simple. I am proud to be on a team of teachers who work hard to create educated, broad-thinking humans.

Recent Courses Taught

BIS 300 Interdisciplinary Inquiry
BIS 347 History of American Documentary Film
BIS 379 American Ethnic Literatures
BISAMS 367 Exploring American Culture: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
BIS 464 Topics in Advanced Cinema Studies: Queer Cinema
BIS 499 Portfolio Capstone

Research/Scholarship

As an American and ethnic studies scholar, I work mostly with the writings of ethnic American authors in their historical and cultural contexts. I have published a co-edited book on race and ethnicity in American texts and articles on various Asian American and African American writers; a co-edited book on using classroom response systems in higher education; and a peer-reviewed, co-authored book, a reader-response study of the work of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. I currently am developing a guide for teaching Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon.

After directing the UW Bothell Teaching and Learning Center for seven years, I taught American studies at three universities in Japan as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 2021-22.

Selected Publications

• Toni Morrison’s Secret Drive: A Reader-Response Study of the Fiction and Its Rhetoric. First author with Shawnrece D. Campbell. McFarland, 2020.
• “Using the Barnga Card Game Simulation to Develop Cross-Cultural Empathy.” Race, Equity and the Learning Environment: The Global Relevance of Critical and Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education. Ed. Franklin Tuitt, Chayla Haynes, and Saran Stewart. Stylus, 2016. 83-97.
• Clickers in the Classroom: Using Classroom Response Systems to Increase Student Learning. First editor with Peter D. Wallis. Stylus, 2015.
• “Holistic Learning-Centeredness: De-Centering the University for Social Justice.” Race & Pedagogy 1.1 (Oct. 2015).
• “Lilacs Every September.” Teaching from the Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach. Ed. Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner. Jossey-Bass, 2014. 144.
• “What Are They Thinking? Best Practices for Classroom Response Systems (‘Clickers’).” National Teaching and Learning Forum 22.3 (2013): 5-6.
• Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts. First editor with Audrey B. Thacker. University of Washington Press, 2008.