MINERVA VOICES

Developing an Active Learning Teaching Style with Alumna Phoebe Meixner

Introducing Phoebe Meixner, a Minerva graduate from the Class of 2020.

June 1, 2021

When Phoebe Meixner started at Minerva, she entered into a new world of active learning. Inspired by her interactive seminar-style classes and the innovative pedagogy underlying her four-year learning journey, Phoebe began to think about a career in education. Her initial curiosity continued to grow and Phoebe realized that she wanted to be able to provide her future students with a quality education that would be able to prepare them to be ready for any given situation. Drawing from her own student perspective, Phoebe thought about how she could become a more effective teacher.

“Every day is a new challenge for a teacher, and we can come at this challenge from a variety of different perspectives.”

After graduating from Minerva, Phoebe moved to South Dakota in the US where she teaches fourth-grade students on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As an instructor, Phoebe utilizes various educational philosophies to be able to better address the difficulties that come with being an educator. For example, drawing on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Phoebe tries to bring in the community’s Lakota culture into the curriculum and classroom. Beyond improving learning, centering on Lakota values and knowledge empowers the students to know that true or valuable knowledge is not only what is listed in the textbook. For Phoebe, this mindset is important to impart on her students as many narratives, particularly from marginalized communities, are intentionally left out of traditional lesson plans.

Phoebe shares that her teaching style, which she now uses with her fourth-grade students, began to take form during her Capstone Project, Minerva’s version of a senior year thesis. For her Capstone, Phoebe designed and implemented a course on historical thinking for Breakthrough Collaborative Birmingham, an academic summer program in Alabama designed to close the opportunity gap for underserved middle school students. The course created a learning environment that encouraged campers to think critically about the historical narratives they were a part of and helped them develop a framework to be able to apply historiographical thinking in their future endeavors. Using an active learning pedagogy, students’ were able to self-direct their learning by choosing the subject they were personally interested in.

“Teaching is this unforgettable challenge,” Phoebe shares. “My Capstone pushed me to grow while also allowing me the creativity to design my own learning and research.”

Throughout her research, Phoebe’s Capstone advisor encouraged her to explore alternative pedagogies. Through trial and error, Phoebe believes this experimentation allowed her to understand what it means to be a teacher. After creating her own learning outcomes, Phoebe was able to iterate and improve her abilities as a curriculum designer and develop a consistent and quality teaching style. She also credits working on her Capstone for teaching her how to be a self-starter — a valuable skill she continues to use every day as being able to research and figure out creative ways to solve problems is a constant part of her role as an educator.

In the future, Phoebe plans to continue to integrate her knowledge of active learning and historiography into her classroom in hopes of inspiring and helping the next generation of students to learn and understand cultures different and similar to their own. As she was able to explore the world’s diverse perspectives during her university experience, she hopes to cultivate pride and excitement in the next generation of students.

If you were inspired by Phoebe’s story and are seeking a college experience that will teach you valuable pragmatic skills that will enable you to change the world, apply to join Minerva today.

Quick Facts

Name
Country
Class
Major

Social Sciences & Business

Business & Computational Sciences

Business and Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Business

Computational Sciences & Social Sciences

Computer Science & Arts and Humanities

Business and Computational Sciences

Business and Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Arts and Humanities

Business, Social Sciences

Business & Arts and Humanities

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Computer Science

Computational Sciences

Arts & Humanities

Computational Sciences, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Social Sciences

Social Sciences, Natural Sciences

Data Science, Statistics

Computational Sciences

Business

Computational Sciences, Data Science

Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Business, Natural Sciences

Business, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Computational Sciences, Natural Sciences

Natural Sciences

Computational Sciences, Social Sciences

Business, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Science

Social Sciences, Business

Arts & Humanities

Computational Sciences, Social Science

Natural Sciences, Computer Science

Computational Science, Statistic Natural Sciences

Business & Social Sciences

Computational Science, Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Business

Business

Arts and Humanities

Computational Sciences

Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Computational Sciences

Social Sciences & Computational Sciences

Social Sciences & Arts and Humanities

Computational Science

Minor

Computational Science & Business

Economics

Social Sciences

Concentration

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence & Cognition, Brain, and Behavior

Designing Societies & New Ventures

Strategic Finance & Data Science and Statistics

Brand Management and Designing Societies

Data Science & Economics

Machine Learning

Cells, Organisms, Data Science, Statistics

Arts & Literature and Historical Forces

Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science

Cells and Organisms, Mind and Emotion

Economics, Physics

Managing Operational Complexity and Strategic Finance

Global Development Studies and Brain, Cognition, and Behavior

Scalable Growth, Designing Societies

Business

Drug Discovery Research, Designing and Implementing Policies

Historical Forces, Cognition, Brain, and Behavior

Artificial Intelligence, Psychology

Designing Solutions, Data Science and Statistics

Data Science and Statistic, Theoretical Foundations of Natural Science

Strategic Finance, Politics, Government, and Society

Data Analysis, Cognition

Brand Management

Data Science and Statistics & Economics

Cognitive Science & Economics

Data Science and Statistics and Contemporary Knowledge Discovery

Internship
Higia Technologies
Project Development and Marketing Analyst Intern at VIVITA, a Mistletoe company
Business Development Intern, DoSomething.org
Business Analyst, Clean Energy Associates (CEA)

Conversation

When Phoebe Meixner started at Minerva, she entered into a new world of active learning. Inspired by her interactive seminar-style classes and the innovative pedagogy underlying her four-year learning journey, Phoebe began to think about a career in education. Her initial curiosity continued to grow and Phoebe realized that she wanted to be able to provide her future students with a quality education that would be able to prepare them to be ready for any given situation. Drawing from her own student perspective, Phoebe thought about how she could become a more effective teacher.

“Every day is a new challenge for a teacher, and we can come at this challenge from a variety of different perspectives.”

After graduating from Minerva, Phoebe moved to South Dakota in the US where she teaches fourth-grade students on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As an instructor, Phoebe utilizes various educational philosophies to be able to better address the difficulties that come with being an educator. For example, drawing on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Phoebe tries to bring in the community’s Lakota culture into the curriculum and classroom. Beyond improving learning, centering on Lakota values and knowledge empowers the students to know that true or valuable knowledge is not only what is listed in the textbook. For Phoebe, this mindset is important to impart on her students as many narratives, particularly from marginalized communities, are intentionally left out of traditional lesson plans.

Phoebe shares that her teaching style, which she now uses with her fourth-grade students, began to take form during her Capstone Project, Minerva’s version of a senior year thesis. For her Capstone, Phoebe designed and implemented a course on historical thinking for Breakthrough Collaborative Birmingham, an academic summer program in Alabama designed to close the opportunity gap for underserved middle school students. The course created a learning environment that encouraged campers to think critically about the historical narratives they were a part of and helped them develop a framework to be able to apply historiographical thinking in their future endeavors. Using an active learning pedagogy, students’ were able to self-direct their learning by choosing the subject they were personally interested in.

“Teaching is this unforgettable challenge,” Phoebe shares. “My Capstone pushed me to grow while also allowing me the creativity to design my own learning and research.”

Throughout her research, Phoebe’s Capstone advisor encouraged her to explore alternative pedagogies. Through trial and error, Phoebe believes this experimentation allowed her to understand what it means to be a teacher. After creating her own learning outcomes, Phoebe was able to iterate and improve her abilities as a curriculum designer and develop a consistent and quality teaching style. She also credits working on her Capstone for teaching her how to be a self-starter — a valuable skill she continues to use every day as being able to research and figure out creative ways to solve problems is a constant part of her role as an educator.

In the future, Phoebe plans to continue to integrate her knowledge of active learning and historiography into her classroom in hopes of inspiring and helping the next generation of students to learn and understand cultures different and similar to their own. As she was able to explore the world’s diverse perspectives during her university experience, she hopes to cultivate pride and excitement in the next generation of students.

If you were inspired by Phoebe’s story and are seeking a college experience that will teach you valuable pragmatic skills that will enable you to change the world, apply to join Minerva today.