Character Education Initiative

Jaime Cantú

Jaime

Biology​

Jaime Cantú a professor and Assistant Department Chair in the Biology Department at Austin Community College (ACC). He holds M.S. (Biology) in M.B.A. degrees, and he is currently completing doctoral work in Bilingual Education with a STEM concentration. His teaching centers on helping students see biological science as more than a collection of facts to memorize; he wants them to think carefully about how they learn, how they evaluate information, and how they communicate what they know. In his courses, Jaime’s students participate in AI-supported conversations, reflection activities, presentations, and discussions that ask them to explain reasoning and thinking processes. He is especially interested in designing learning experiences that help students become more thoughtful, curious, and responsible learners, both inside and outside of the classroom.

How has your community college teaching experience shaped your character over your career?

Teaching at a community college has changed the way I think about both teaching and learning. My students come into the classroom with very different experiences, levels of preparation, responsibilities, and ideas about what it means to be successful, and working with them has made me much more willing to question my own assumptions about what students need. That has also changed the way I design my courses. Instead of only asking students to memorize biology, I build in opportunities for them to explain their thinking, respond to classmates, reflect on how their ideas are changing, and work through the material, where they have to make decisions, defend their reasoning, and recognize when they may need to reconsider an answer. I look at what is the need of our community and build habits that will allow our students to succeed. I want students to practice communicating ideas to other people rather than simply giving me the “right” answer on an exam. Over time, I have become more comfortable admitting when something in a course is not working and changing it. My students have taught me to listen more closely, to be more patient with uncertainty, and to see teaching as something I do with students rather than something I do to them.

Contact

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