I am a teacher of literature, language, dialogue, and writing who has worked with a diverse range of student populations in a variety of cultural, linguistic, and geographical contexts since 2004. Below is an outline of some of my experience in teaching, developing curriculum, and leading workshops for other teachers over the past 18 years.
TEACHING
Undergraduate Courses
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
CL 1005: Narrating Survival, Program in Comparative Literature/Dept. of English (Spring 2023). SNF Paideia-designated course.
COMM 2991-302: Good Talk: The Purpose, Practice, and Representation of Dialogue Across Difference, Annenberg School of Communications (Spring 2022, Fall 2022). SNF Paideia-designated course.
University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas)
TC 125K: Peer Dialogue Facilitation Training, Plan II Honors Program (Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022)
E 367C: Transnational and Childhood Studies Approaches to Peter Pan, Dept. of English (Spring 2021)
SPN 611D: Second-Year Spanish II, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese (Fall 2018, Spring 2019)
SPN 601D: First-Year Spanish I, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese (Fall 2017, Spring 2018)
As Teaching Assistant in the Department of Undergraduate Studies:
UGS 303: Russian Sci-Fi, with Prof. Tom Garza (Spring 2016). Lead TA.
UGS 303: Modernity, Anxiety, and the Art of the Uncanny, with Prof. Elizabeth Richmond-Garza (Spring 2015, Fall 2015). Lead TA in Fall 2015.
UGS 303: The Pursuit of Happiness, with Prof. Samer Ali (Fall 2014)
English Language Arts in U.S. Public Schools
Koliganek School (Koliganek, Alaska)
6th-8th grade English Language Arts. Combined-level classroom (Fall 2013)
9th-10th grade English Language Arts. Combined-level classroom (Fall 2013)
11th-12th grade English Language Arts. Combined-level classroom (Fall 2013)
IDEA College Preparatory San Benito (San Benito, Texas)
10th grade English Language Arts (Fall 2012, Spring 2013)
9th grade English Language Arts (Fall 2011, Spring 2012)
English as a Second Language in the U.S. and Abroad
Nationalities Service Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Intermediate English. Diverse adult learners (Fall 2021)
HOFT Institute, English as a Second Language (Austin, Texas)
Reading Level 4. Diverse adult learners (Fall 2019)
Listening and Speaking Level 2. Diverse adult learners (Fall 2019)
Futuro Latino Learning Center (Baltimore, Maryland)
Beginners English. Spanish-speaking adult learners (Fall 2010, Spring 2011)
Espacio Educación. Bilingual children’s program (Fall 2010)
Ayutthaya Public High School (Ayutthaya, Thailand)
Intermediate English for 11th grade, classes of 40-50 students (Spring 2006)
Tai Yang Elementary School (Shenyang, China)
Low-Intermediate English for 2nd and 3rd grades, classes of 30-40 students (Spring 2005)
ALIFA Sushan English Language School (Shenyang, China)
Beginner’s English. Children ages 4-8 (Fall 2004, Spring 2005)
Low-Intermediate English. Children ages 6-10 (Fall 2004, Spring 2005)
Upper-Intermediate English. Children ages 8-14 (Fall 2004, Spring 2005)
Advanced English. Children ages 12-18 (Fall 2004, Spring 2005)
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Texas International Teaching Consortium (Austin, Texas)
Worked collaboratively with faculty in Iraq to review program learning outcomes, course sequence, and courses in four majors. Made recommendations for changes directed at improving recruitment, retention, and academic success for female and ethnic minority students at American University of Iraq-Suleimani. 2-year project funded by U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (Dec. 2020-Sept. 2022)
Mighty Writers (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Develop and teach series of professional writing workshops to rising high school seniors from Philadelphia public schools selected to participate in the Bloomberg Summer Arts Internship. College admissions essay, CV/resume writing, cover letter writing, and academic writing. (Summer 2022, Fall 2022)
Difficult Dialogues Program, Humanities Institute, University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas)
Developed pedagogical resources, curriculum, trainings, and events to support faculty and students facilitating dialogue on controversial topics both FTF and online. Co-facilitated bimonthly Difficult Dialogues faculty learning community. Conducted research and undergo training on best practices for faculty focus groups, faculty learning communities, dialogic pedagogies, inclusive pedagogies, and online engagement strategies (Fall 2019-Fall 2021)
Austin Bat Cave, K-12 Writing (Austin, Texas)
Developed and taught both one-time and long-term college essay writing workshops for underserved Austin-area high school students. Developed free, open-access college essay writing guide StoriesofSelfworkshop.com (Spring 2019-Fall 2021)
Reading Rock Stars, Texas Book Festival, K-6 Literacy (Austin, Texas)
Developed reading curriculum aligned to Texas state standards (TEKS) for preK-6 elementary students in Title I school districts (Fall 2018, Spring 2019)
International Scholars Program, IDEA College Preparatory San Benito (San Benito, Texas)
Founded, developed, and coordinated school’s first-ever study abroad program: a yearlong extracurricular seminar on cultural perspectives culminating in a ten-day trip to Monteverde, Costa Rica with 11 tenth-grade students. In partnership with The Cloud Forest School/Centro de Educación Creativa (Spring 2013)
Futuro Latino Learning Center (Baltimore, Maryland)
Developed ESL grammar guide and training materials for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Trained, supervised, and evaluated 10-15 student volunteers per semester (Fall 2010, Spring 2011)
Instituto Monteverde, English as a Second Language (Monteverde, Costa Rica)
Designed and wrote a complete 12-week, 24-class basic course of English with full curricula for four levels as well as an ESL Teachers Orientation. Translated educational materials and curricula from Spanish to English for use in the Monteverde Institute Spanish Department (Spring 2009)
FACULTY WORKSHOPS & GUEST LECTURES
“Promoting Wellness in the Classroom through Dialogue.” Center for Teaching and Learning panel, University of Pennsylvania, Sept. 2022.
“Testimony and/as Dialogue.” Difficult Dialogues Program Faculty Workshops, University of Texas at Austin, August 2022.
“Technologies for Dialogue.” Difficult Dialogues Program Faculty Workshops, University of Texas at Austin, August 2022.
“The 3 Conversations: How to Engage in Difficult Dialogues.” Guest lecture in Prof. Wenhong Chen’s UGS 303 course “The U.S.-China Tango,” University of Texas at Austin, January 2022, Sept. 2022. Class of ~30 students.
“Positionality and Discourse: How Where We’re From Affects How We Dialogue (and What to Do About It).” Workshop for faculty, staff, and students, SNF Paideia Program, University of Pennsylvania, October 2021. ~50 attendees.
“Concrete Strategies for Difficult Dialogues.” Inclusive Pedagogies Discussion Series, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, September 2021.
“Best Apps for Multimodal, Inclusive Dialogue.” Technology Enhanced Learning Symposium, Faculty Innovation Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, May 2021.
“Inclusive Difficult Dialogues in the Language and Cultural Studies Classroom.” Department of French and Italian, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, April 2021.
“The Art of the Dialogue Question Set.” American Anthropological Association Virtual Workshops, Dec. 2020.
“Teaching with Love and Logic.” Teach For America Professional Development Workshops for Teachers, Rio Grande Valley, TX, Jan.-April 2013 (4 sessions).
“Student-Led Dialogue with Socratic Seminars.” Teach For America Professional Development Workshops for Teachers, Rio Grande Valley, TX, Jan. 2013.
“3-point Sentences for Vocabulary Instruction.” Teach For America Professional Development Workshops for Teachers, Rio Grande Valley, TX, Dec. 2012.