Teaching
CURRENT COURSES
FALL 2023
Introduction to Sociology
Gender and Sexuality
Food, Place, and Culture
SPRING 2024
Introduction to Sociology
Social Networks Analysis
Reproduction of Social Inequality
ALL COURSES
Sociology of Networks
Social Inequality
Reproduction of Social Inequality
Gender and Sexuality
Gender and Society
Food, Place, and Culture
Statistics
Capstone Course in Sociology
Introduction to Sociology
WORKSHOPS
Revealing the Hidden Curriculum: Identifying and Demystifying the unwritten rules and prerequisite knowledge of our college classrooms.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I have been teaching Sociology at Lycoming College since Fall 2023, and prior I taught Sociology at the University of Iowa since 2015. I have taught courses ranging from introductory to capstone-level classes, including courses on methods and statistics and seminars on inequality pertaining to class, gender, social networks, food and culture, childhood and education. I have experience teaching in-person as well as online synchronous and asynchronous.
As a PhD student at the University of Iowa, I earned a Certificate in College Teaching from the University of Iowa (Fall 2020), and my teaching has been recognized by the University of Iowa Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2019). I co-taught the sociology department's undergraduate capstone course for four semesters, working on course development and delivery, and helping transition the course from a traditional writing-focused class into a dynamic, personalized program to prepare sociology and criminology majors to use their degrees to pursue their professional goals. I served as instructor of record in a range of classes, including introduction to sociology, social inequality, and gender and society, and I designed and taught upper-level courses on Statistics and Sociology of Networks.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My primary focus in teaching is fostering curiosity, developing critical thinking, and the accessibility of these learning goals to all students. Research suggests that student motivation, long- and short-term learning, and higher-level critical thinking are best supported by student-lead learning approaches. However, access to the hidden curriculum (the implicit rules and prerequisite knowledge needed to navigate academic spaces) is unequally distributed among students. Therefore, my goal as an instructor is to be a collaborative guide, with the aim of maximizing the learning of every student in my classroom by illuminating the hidden curriculum and providing a foundation to continue learning beyond the confines of the course. This philosophy informs everything from my choice-based course and assignment designs, to the supported student-centered environment of my classrooms, to my feedback-focused grading practices.