My goal as a teacher is to help students think differently about themselves, the world, and their ability to make change.
Study Abroad
Galway, Ireland (Spring 2018)
The Galway program is through the Irish Studies program at the National University of Ireland Galway. Students are exposed to Irish literature, history, society and culture through a series of classes and field trips. The program immerses participants in Irish life in culture in ways that help to reveal the complexities of life in a country with a long and rish history on the western edge of Europe.
GAL115: Environmental Policy and Sustainability in Ireland (Director's Seminar)
In the spring of 2016, Galway in particular was awarded the European Green Leaf Environmental Award. It was chosen from hundreds of small cities across Europe with populations under 100,000 people as “Europe’s most environmentally friendly small city.” Ireland’s ability to meet EU and national standards more generally is, in part, because of its relatively small size and identity as a place where farming and land-use, on the one hand, and conservation of nature, on the other, can coexist. This course explored Ireland’s environmental policies and actions over the past 60 years. Our approach was interdisciplinary, exploring the social, scientific, economic, political and ethical dimensions of environmental policy and the principles of sustainability that have shaped Ireland’s actions and accomplishments. Much of the course was framed around the question of: How does what we see today in terms of Ireland’s environmental policies and accomplishments reflect its history and identity as a relatively small island nation and a member of the European Union?
Auckland, New Zealand (Fall 2015)
The Auckland program is focused on education and enables students to explore the history, culture and society of New Zealand and the lives of Maori people within this bi-cultural nation and multicultural society. Each student was placed in a local school internship which provided them with an opportunity to teach and learn in classrooms that were both incredibly diverse and progressive.
EDUC 377: Education and Diversity: New Zealand and the United States (Director's Seminar)
Using a comparative approach, this course examined the nature of education, schools, curriculum, and schooling in New Zealand compared to the United States and other countries. Themes included educational policy, funding, technology integration, literacy, and diversity. An understanding of the social, political, economic, and ethical considerations that shape education polices and practices were explored. The course attempted to contextualize contemporary schooling within the history of New
Zealand culture and society.
Brisbane, Australia (Fall 2005)
Hobart and William SMith Colleges
Education is most productive and meaningful when it is reflective, collaborative, and personally relevant. I strive to help students view themselves as life-long-learners who are able to apply creative problem solving and reflective inquiry in all areas of their lives. Whether teaching a teacher education seminar, independent study, science course or a liberal arts course in education, my role is to support students as they struggle to answer problems, create projects and carry out investigations. I serve as a facilitator, guide and mentor as I provide the tools and resources necessary for their success.
EDUC083-01: Teaching Elementary Science
This seminar focuses on inquiry teaching and learning approaches to science. Students engage in a variety of science activities designed to model different teaching strategies. They analyze their lessons, incorporate technology where appropriate, and adapt curriculum to meet the needs of all students. Students are encouraged to be reflective about their practice. Local, state and national resources are addressed with an emphasis on New York State Learning Standards.
EDUC083-02: Teaching Secondary Science
This seminar focuses on inquiry teaching methods to teach and learn science. Students engage in a variety of science activities designed to model different strategies. They analyze and assess their lessons, incorporate technology where appropriate, and adapt curriculum to meet the needs of all students. They are encouraged to be reflective about their practice. Local, state and national resources are available, with an emphasis on the New York State Learning Standards.
EDUC225: Contemporary Concepts in Educational Leadership
Educational settings are being newly defined by technology and globalization. As access to global networks continues to spur an interconnectedness, today's educators must navigate environments where complex social challenges exist, resource allocations are unpredictable and systems are consistently impacted by external forces, such new policy or laws from state or federal governments. Contemporary educational leaders must engage across difference, identify critical needs, build coalitions, manage uncertainty and collaborate with stakeholders. This course is designed to provide a conceptual framework of leadership theory as well as introduce a variety of change models that can be applied within educational settings.
EDUC336: Science and Cognition: Ways of Thinking In Science
Students in this course study the nature of science from historical, philosophical, and contemporary perspectives. These perspectives are then used as lenses to examine how the nature of science is revealed in standard school science curricula and practice. Topics include science as a specific way of thinking and acting, the content of science, environmental controversies, the relationship between the construction of science meanings and learner discourse, and current trends in science education. Students consider the roles of the social, political, sociological, and aesthetic components of science, as well as gender and global perspectives on science and science learning.
EDUC346: Technology In Education
We live in a society and culture where technology often dominates our social, emotional and professional lives. Yet, the creative and productive use of educational technologies in schools, is relatively absent. Most teachers use active whiteboards as a means to facilitate lecture and discussion. And many elementary schools require a certain amount of “screen time” for subjects such as math or language arts. However, there exists an incredible number of technologies that can support students in creative design, inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, role-play simulations, and access to real-world data or information in ways that go far beyond what we often see in a more traditional classroom. This course explores such technologies, the social and technological forces that shape the use of technology in our lives and in schools, and will help you understand how you might think about the use and adaptation of any technology for teaching or learning in the future. We will explore policy, social patterns, ethical perspectives, and a number of frameworks that provide greater clarity as to why we see the use and disuse that we do. Most importantly, we will explore examples of teachers and others using educational technology with students in ways that embody the transformative potential of certain technologies to create contexts that are meaningful, engaging, and productive.
EDUC348: Our National Parks
The U.S. National Park Service functions to preserve unique and invaluable cultural resources throughout the country. At the same time, our parks serve a number of more personal purposes. They renew our spirits, provide endless formal and informal educational opportunities and are diverse settings for recreational activities. Students explore our National Park system from educational, historical, sociological, cultural, scientific, political and economic perspectives. Controversies abound when one examines the history and current state of our parks. At the same time, contemporary threats to our parks include financial troubles, overuse by the public, pollution, industry pressures and political agendas. The complexity of these situations create a series of educational challenges in terms of helping visitors, regional citizens and politicians make well-informed personal and political decisions. This course may require at least two weekend field trips.
EDUC349: Nature of Science and Scientific Inquiry in Schools
Teaching science effectively requires teachers to understand how to engage students in scientific inquiry and create meaningful contexts for learning. Students will explore the nature of science and scientific knowledge and examine the similarities and differences between the lives of professional scientists and what K-12 students can do in classroom settings. Topics include identifying reliable curriculum resources, supporting students in learning, assessment, creating real-world contexts, how social and cultural aspects manifest themselves in science classrooms, and how to make science engaging and enjoyable. Future teachers of all ages and backgrounds are welcome, regardless of your comfort level or experience in science.
EDUC351: Teaching and Learning Through Citizen Science
This course will explore the ways in which emerging opportunities and technologies enable students and teachers to contribute to and use citizen science data. Citizen science initiatives enable any person to make scientific observations, gather data and submit those data to web or app-based databases. These data are then available for use, visualization and analysis by both professional scientists and the average citizen. The increasing availability of these technologies creates enormous potential for educators, teachers and students, especially with regard to environmental science, biodiversity conservation, and technology-enhanced field studies. Students will explore a variety of citizen science projects, engage in their own data collection, collaborate with teachers from across the state, land explore the variety of teaching, learning and pedagogical opportunities available to educators. Discussions, projects and topics relate to environmental studies, environmental ethics, public policy , conservation and sustainability.
EDUC360: Teaching for a Sustainable Environment
Many of the people who agree that our environment is in trouble are unaware of the seriousness, multiplicity, and interrelatedness of the threats it faces. One of the biggest challenges to increasing the sustainability of our interaction with the rest of the environment is that awareness of the crisis alone is not enough; action is needed. Environmental education promotes certain knowledge, values, and behaviors that are very different from those involved in solving a math equation, analyzing an historical event, writing a poem, or playing soccer. Environmental education addresses conflicts between personal beliefs about the present and more abstract knowledge about the future. Furthermore, a lack of feedback makes it difficult to change comfortable behaviors. Many strong forces lurk beneath the surface of the current environmental crisis: individual freedom, capitalism, materialism, social injustice, ignorance, religion, fear, complexities of scale, finite resources, a subtle interconnectedness of life, cultural/social momentum, etc. Environmental education for critical consciousness and fundamental social change must solve perplexing problems. Responses to these problems will require effective pedagogy, scientific and social knowledge, understanding of moral reasoning, and personal commitment.
EDUC401: Analysis of Teaching in Secondary Schools
This seminar accompanies EDUC 402 403, student teaching in the secondary schools and is open only to adolescent teacher certification participants engaged as full-time student teachers. It provides a structure within which participants critically examine their classroom experiences of teaching, learning, and curriculum development, with the goal of becoming reflective practitioners. Texts and readings are selected from those that provide analysis of the experience of secondary school education, as well as those that provide rationales for the methods and purposes of the academic disciplines. This course must be passed with a C or better in order to be recommended for certification.
EDUC420: Research in Education
Open only to Master of Arts in Teaching students or educational studies majors using it as their capstone, this course is a survey of educational research and research methodology with an emphasis on qualitative and teacher-generated research.
EDUC 801 & 803 Master’s Project
Students will complete a graduate level integrative group project that addresses an issue of educational relevance. This project will analyze an educational issue from multiple perspectives and develop a set of presentations will be presented publically (e.g., Senior Symposium, Community Engaged Scholarship Forum, community meeting with stakeholders, conference presentation).
EDUC791: GIS in Schools & EDUC792: Teaching with Emerging Technologies
Geospatial technologies represents a broad category of tools that are becoming increasingly available to professionals and educations and can be used for regional problem-solving and environmental inquiry. This course will enable teachers participating in the GIT Ahead Project to develop inquiry-based units that meet existing curricular needs through geospatial-based projects focused on Finger Lakes watersheds and regional planning issues. The goal of this project is to help high school students see geospatial technology as pathways to relevant, exciting, and high-demand careers, and to create higher education pathways for students who might not otherwise pursue such goals.
EDUC820: Graduate Seminar in Education
In this seminar, which is limited to the students enrolled in the MAT program, students continue their study of research paradigms and procedures that can be used in preparing, organizing and presenting a master’s thesis. Topics for reading and discussion also include salient educational issues, as well as topics drawn from the research interests of students as identified in their master’s theses. Readings are typically drawn from educational journals, research textbooks, and topical education books and other resources.
Indiana University Bloomington (Graduate School)
Brown County High School
Nashville, Indiana
I taught 2 classes each of Environmental Science and AP Chemistry. The school was on a 90 minute block schedule, which provided more than adequate time to engage in a variety of inquiry-based science projects and laboratory investigations. The Chemistry class explored molar relationships and stoichiometry and the Environmental Science class conducted a field-based water ecology unit.
Secondary Science Certification
Indiana University
I completed the requirements for secondary science certification, which entailed a variety of courses in both science and pedagogy.
Secondary Science Methods (M446 & Q506)
Indiana University
I worked with the course instructor, Hans Andersen, in helping his students reflect on their student teaching experiences. We used an online discussion forum to facilitate the students reflecting on their teaching and engaging in discussions with their peers as well as mentor in-service teachers.
Middle School and Secondary Classrooms
Bloomington, Indiana & Lafayette, Louisiana
I taught units and lessons in a variety of middle and high school classrooms over the 4 years in Bloomington. I spent a considerable amount of time co-teaching in area classrooms. Topic areas included Mendelian genetics, Newton's Laws, and the physics of airplane flight. I am currently completing the coursework for secondary certification in addition to obtaining my doctoral degree.
Basic Science Skills for Elementary Education (Q200)
Indiana University
This course provided elementary education majors with a review of the science skills and concepts that are important for learning advanced concepts in a college level science course. I strived to model new teaching strategies while simultaneously teaching science concepts and skills that will be useful in teaching science at the elementary level.
Integrated Science for Elementary Education (Q405)
Indiana University
I developed the laboratory portion of this NASA funded course as well as supervised eight students in an additional 2 credit field experience section. This course affords senior elementary education students the opportunity to utilize and integrate their science and education backgrounds. The laboratories were designed to emphasize hands-on constructivist learning. The students used Calculator-based Laboratories in a variety of settings, performed inquiry-based laboratory experiments, constructed Web pages, and conducted research on a variety of topics while exploring the science concepts of heat, temperature, energy, natural disasters and global climate change.
Science Methods for Elementary Education (M346)
Indiana University
Assisted in planning lecture and discussion materials throughout the semester. Directed a number of classroom experiences and taught a total of four classes during the semester. I did not have any teaching responsibilities during this semester, so getting involved in this course was my way of keeping in touch with the classroom.
Chemistry for Kids
Indiana University
Taught the Saturday Science Chemistry workshop for 3rd to 6th grade students. This is a six-week, hands-on experience emphasizing inquiry and experimentation.
National Park Service Interpretation
Shenandoah National Park
Volunteer Interpreter - Daily and weekly responsibilities included guiding interpretive hikes (6-15 visitors/hike), presenting children's programs (5-20 children/program), presenting a weekly, evening slide program (30-100 people/talk). Other responsibilities included staffing the visitor center desk, the construction of bulletin boards, and search and rescue efforts.
Genetics (BIOL 210)
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Co-taught a sophomore biology class. Lecture topics included molecular biology, human genetics, genetic diseases and biomedical ethics. Assisted in the development of a World-Wide-Web site for the class.