Teaching

My teaching focuses on engaging students in the practices of science to help them make sense of natural phenomena. When I am teaching, I value creating a classroom environment that honors students’ ideas, experiences, and repertoires of sensemaking. When working with preservice teachers, I aim to provide my students with a vision of the possible and excite their interest in working with their students to think about science ideas.

Higher education teaching experience

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
  • EDUC 6300: Secondary/Middle School Science Methods
    • Science methods course for undergraduate and graduate pre-service secondary and middle school science teachers. Focuses on teaching science as a process of figuring out the natural world.
    • Instructor: Fall 2020
  • EDUC 2109: Teaching About the Natural World
    • Science methods course for undergraduate pre-service elementary teachers. Focuses on the development of a science-as-practice pedagogy and includes implementation of science lessons in an after-school program at a local elementary school.
    • Instructor: Spring 2020, Spring 2021
    • Co-instructor: Spring 2019
    • Teaching assistant: Fall 2018

K-12 teaching experience

    • Fremont High School, Sunnyvale, CA
        • Science teacher, 2011-2017; I taught 9th grade biology, 10th grade chemistry, and 11th-12th grade AP Environmental Science. I founded the AP Environmental Science program at the school. In addition, I taught four years of the AVID elective, a course supporting first-generation college students throughout high school and the college admissions process.
        • Department chair, 2015-2017; I led a department of 13 teachers, which included supporting subject-specific teams in their transition to the NGSS and managing the department budget
        • Cooperating teacher, 2014-15 & 2016-17; I hosted two student teachers from the Stanford Teacher Education Program, modeling my teaching practice and providing them support and feedback in their planning, instruction, and assessment.
    • Tutoring
        • I have tutored middle and high school students in math, science, and test preparation since 2005. For more information about my tutoring, see here.