TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I have been a teacher for all of my adult life. I began teaching elementary school immediately after completing my B.A. (Mills College, 1997), and I have worked in education in varying capacities ever since. Content wise, my teaching interests land at the intersection of Indigenous Feminisms, Gender Studies, and Critical Whiteness Studies. Beginning as a literary scholar, my early interests focused on the ways in which cultural understandings are reproduced through texts (particularly the novel and 19th/20th century political cartoons and pamphlets). Taking literary theory and textual analysis back into the public school realm, my interests expanded to include other ways in which culture and ideology are reproduced through seemingly inert and impartial practices. With this focus, I began teaching teachers, leading professional development sessions on the complexity of racialization and gendering in schools, particularly the ways in which femininity (regardless of sex) is read as passive and benevolent and is attached to whiteness, whereas masculinity (again, regardless of sex) is discursively tied up with violence, school failure/defiance, and Blackness (including Indigenous and Latinx identities).
Pedagogically, my teaching interests are inspired by my own primary through college experiences – successes and struggles – my ongoing self-reflection on the people and experiences that were influential in my life, and of course by my formal training as an educator. I am also motivated by the reward of guiding a group of students from their current levels of understanding and pushing them toward a higher plane, witnessing their growth along with my own, helping them engage with complex and controversial ideas, and allowing students to make meaning through a constructivist approach. Toward this end, in designing courses I follow the framework of Understanding by Design, particularly the concept of “backward mapping”: starting with course goals and big ideas I want students to understand on a deep level, thinking about what students will know and also what they will do with that knowledge, asking what evidence of that understanding would look like, and then designing specific learning activities and selecting materials that will help students get to the point where they can produce evidence of learning. Although this curricular framework is designed for K-12 classrooms, it is applicable to teaching and learning at any level, and is a sound pedagogical tool for me as a newer professor to check my syllabi for authentic connections between stated learning goals and course assignments.
I have been a teacher for all of my adult life. I began teaching elementary school immediately after completing my B.A. (Mills College, 1997), and I have worked in education in varying capacities ever since. Content wise, my teaching interests land at the intersection of Indigenous Feminisms, Gender Studies, and Critical Whiteness Studies. Beginning as a literary scholar, my early interests focused on the ways in which cultural understandings are reproduced through texts (particularly the novel and 19th/20th century political cartoons and pamphlets). Taking literary theory and textual analysis back into the public school realm, my interests expanded to include other ways in which culture and ideology are reproduced through seemingly inert and impartial practices. With this focus, I began teaching teachers, leading professional development sessions on the complexity of racialization and gendering in schools, particularly the ways in which femininity (regardless of sex) is read as passive and benevolent and is attached to whiteness, whereas masculinity (again, regardless of sex) is discursively tied up with violence, school failure/defiance, and Blackness (including Indigenous and Latinx identities).
Pedagogically, my teaching interests are inspired by my own primary through college experiences – successes and struggles – my ongoing self-reflection on the people and experiences that were influential in my life, and of course by my formal training as an educator. I am also motivated by the reward of guiding a group of students from their current levels of understanding and pushing them toward a higher plane, witnessing their growth along with my own, helping them engage with complex and controversial ideas, and allowing students to make meaning through a constructivist approach. Toward this end, in designing courses I follow the framework of Understanding by Design, particularly the concept of “backward mapping”: starting with course goals and big ideas I want students to understand on a deep level, thinking about what students will know and also what they will do with that knowledge, asking what evidence of that understanding would look like, and then designing specific learning activities and selecting materials that will help students get to the point where they can produce evidence of learning. Although this curricular framework is designed for K-12 classrooms, it is applicable to teaching and learning at any level, and is a sound pedagogical tool for me as a newer professor to check my syllabi for authentic connections between stated learning goals and course assignments.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Mills College Department of Race, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Introduction to Ethnic Studies
Introduction to Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies
Indigenous Peoples' History in the US to 1900
Indigenous Peoples' History in the US from 1900 - Present
Native American & Pacific Islander Women
Leadership for Social Change
Ethnic Studies Senior Thesis Seminar
Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Senior Project
Theories of Race & Ethnicity
Research Methods in Communities of Color
Race, Gender, & the Criminal Justice System
"Celluloid Native" - Indigenous Peoples in Film
'All Power to the People!': The Politics and Pedagogy of Community-based Education in the Bay & Beyond
Mills College Graduate School of Education
Curriculum & Instruction in Secondary Schools
Teaching Reading & Writing in Secondary Schools
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education
Supervised Teaching in Elementary Education (Graduate Student Instructor)
The Politics of Educational Inequality (Graduate Student Instructor)
Education Policy and Practice (Graduate Student Instructor)
TEACHING CERTIFICATIONS
Certificate in Effective College Instruction
Association of College and University Educators
[2019]
This certificate signifies the completion of a 25-module course in effective teaching practices requiring the implementation of evidence-based instructional approaches. The credential is co-issued by the American Council on Education and distinguishes faculty for their commitment to educational excellence and student success.
Mills College Department of Race, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Introduction to Ethnic Studies
Introduction to Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies
Indigenous Peoples' History in the US to 1900
Indigenous Peoples' History in the US from 1900 - Present
Native American & Pacific Islander Women
Leadership for Social Change
Ethnic Studies Senior Thesis Seminar
Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Senior Project
Theories of Race & Ethnicity
Research Methods in Communities of Color
Race, Gender, & the Criminal Justice System
"Celluloid Native" - Indigenous Peoples in Film
'All Power to the People!': The Politics and Pedagogy of Community-based Education in the Bay & Beyond
Mills College Graduate School of Education
Curriculum & Instruction in Secondary Schools
Teaching Reading & Writing in Secondary Schools
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education
Supervised Teaching in Elementary Education (Graduate Student Instructor)
The Politics of Educational Inequality (Graduate Student Instructor)
Education Policy and Practice (Graduate Student Instructor)
TEACHING CERTIFICATIONS
Certificate in Effective College Instruction
Association of College and University Educators
[2019]
This certificate signifies the completion of a 25-module course in effective teaching practices requiring the implementation of evidence-based instructional approaches. The credential is co-issued by the American Council on Education and distinguishes faculty for their commitment to educational excellence and student success.
