social skills - How do you answer "Oh, you're a professor? What do you teach?"

I suspect anybody who's a professor knows this story: you meet someone new in a social setting and it comes up that you're a professor. The inevitable next question is, "oh, what do you teach?"

It's a perfectly reasonable question, and one simple answer is: well, tell them what you teach! But the question also implicitly suggests that professors do nothing but teach, and to answer it directly feels like you're only reinforcing that perception. It also does nothing to steer the conversation toward your other passions, like doing research and writing grants.

Q: How do you answer this question without being rude, while still painting a more representative picture of what a professor actually does?

Answer

I usually get assigned to teach ____________ (e.g. introductory biology classes), but actually, most of my work at the university involves research in the area of ____________.