Instructor Spotlight: Julienne King, Principles of Psychology

by Carrie Watkins | Oct 22, 2020 | Featured, Instructor Spotlight

For Julienne King, student success is her joy.

Students see her passion and her warmth from the first introductory video. But throughout the course, they also see that Julienne is not just there to teach content. She’s there to be a partner in their learning.

“I believe in teaching the whole child,” Julienne said. “Teaching them how to learn. Teaching them effective ways of learning. Checking on their emotional health and then finally teaching content that is interactive, vivid, imaginative, engaging, challenging, all while giving them opportunities to demonstrate mastery whatever it takes.”

Finding Her Calling

With 18 years of teaching experience, Julienne is in her second year teaching with TEL. She is the instructor for the Principles of Psychology course, and for schools who request it, she leads the faith-based version of the course. She also teaches for several community colleges in Houston, Texas.

“I love science and psychology,” she said. “I think science, when understood correctly, is God allowing man to see what He has done. It’s so amazing. I love psychology because, when it’s understood correctly, it’s God allowing man to see themselves and gain perspective.”

Julienne was in her sophomore year of college pursuing pre-med when she felt called to change course.

“I didn’t want to spend time pursuing a degree in which I would not be interested in later. I wanted to plan college right,” she said. “I didn’t want to spend time and money in the check-out line of college only to return to the counter because I no longer wanted the degree.”

Teaching More Than Content

While teaching had always been a passion for Julienne, the more she taught, the more she realized it wasn’t just about the material.

“As I continued in my career and desired to find a deeper meaning of the gift that I have been given, I discovered that teaching empowers,” she said. “That’s what has kept me in the field. I want to empower others to succeed.”

Teaching online has provided Julienne with another layer to that empowerment. But it’s also made her think about how to engage with students differently.

“I love online teaching because all barriers and hindrances are removed. There is no people-pleasing. It is just a platform for serious learning,” she said. “The hurdle is not being near the students. To help with some of that, I try to make myself available by committing myself to video lecture notes or video introductions and allowing my personality to shine through so that they know that they are connecting to a real person.”

It’s this realness that Julienne brings to every course. Because she knows she teaches more than just Psychology. She teaches people and helps them be successful in more than just a course.

“Teachers greatly influence the trajectory path of success for the students,” she said. “I want teachers to see themselves as mentors and not just someone dispensing information. That is the true value of a teacher.”

Check out the Principles of Psychology course and Julienne’s welcome video to the course.

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Instructor Spotlight: Julienne King, Principles of Psychology

Finding Her Calling

Teaching More Than Content

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