Teaching Roles

The Undergraduate Writing Program, Columbia University

Instructor, University Writing

Fall 2021, Spring 2022

  • Developed a syllabus and lesson plans for each semester that guides students through improving their academic writing skills.

   • Facilitated in-class and asychronous conversations on academic writing expectations, stylistic choices, and content development.

   • Guided students in class, in small groups, and individually as they complete multiple drafts of writing assignments.

   • Fostered critical analysis of the place and use of writing in powerful institutions.

As instructor of University Writing, I view teaching University Writing as a chance to lift student writing skills to the high academic standards that Columbia professors expect for clear expression of rigorously explored arguments. I approach teaching through the theoretical lens of mastery learning; advanced knowledge and skills cannot be built without mastering the foundational knowledge and individual components that comprise them. Within this framework, one of the foundational elements of my teaching, especially in introductory or foundational classes, is creating an inclusive learning environment by breaking down expectations in order to allow students from all backgrounds to access the learning goals of the course. Mastery learning aligns with the structure of the University Writing Program, which scaffolds the four major writing assignments in a way that builds students’ writing competence over the course of the semester. Through reflective assignments and with the diverse academic backgrounds and interests of students in the University Writing Program in mind, a mastery learning approach helps students learn how they can most effectively break down and master writing skills that they can use throughout their academic careers, according to their own strengths and learning styles.

Department of Music, Columbia University

Course Reader for Salsa, Soca, Reggae: Popular Musics of the Caribbean

Summer 2020, Fall 2020

   • Facilitated listening review sessions regularly during the semester to build students’ aural skills in Caribbean genres.

   • Assigned grades and provided detailed, personal feedback on concert reports, creative projects, and exams.

Teaching Fellowship: Teaching Assistant for Music Humanities

Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019

   • Assisted with planning and preparing for the survey music courses taken by all undergraduate students.

   • Planned and taught multiple seminar-style classes of roughly twenty undergraduate students.

Teaching Fellowship: Teaching Assistant for Asian Music Humanities

Fall 2017

   • Began each class with listening practices to review homework and prepare for the day’s discussion.

   • Planned and taught multiple seminar-style classes of roughly twenty undergraduate students.

   • Held office hours to meet with students individually for supplementary listening and writing assistance.

As a Teaching Fellow at Columbia University, I have worked as a Teaching Assistant for Asian Music Humanities for one semester and for Music Humanities for three semesters. These are both survey music courses, the latter of which is taken by all undergraduate students. Each class is a seminar of roughly twenty-five students. I planned and taught multiple classes each semester on such topics as: Hearing Rhythm and Tempo through Tango; Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; Beethoven and Sonata Form; Clara Schuman and Nineteenth Century Women at the Piano; Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and the Harlem Renaissance; and DAM and Israeli and Palestinian hip hop. For Asian Music Humanities, I also held weekly office hours and assisted with planning and preparing daily listening exercises.

More recently, I worked as a course reader for Salsa, Soca, Reggae, grading concert reports, fieldwork projects, and music analysis exams, as well as running periodic listening practices throughout the semester. Listening practices were supplementary and were offered as a way to help students, who were now learning vitually, to have more guided listening with an instructor.

Working as a teaching assistant and a grader in Columbia classrooms has provided me with training in managing high yet realistic expectations for this undergraduate student body. Like this course I designed, the courses I have assisted are open to all majors, creating an environment of diverse academic backgrounds. Such an environment fosters exciting intellectual engagement and debate, weighing and prioritizing different values. When completing and sharing final papers, students learn from each other both during the presentations of others and when receiving feedback from the class. With these benefits in mind, I encourage productive, interdisciplinary intellectual exchange in my classes.

Ben Franklin Academy

High School Teacher, August 2015-July 2016

     • Taught mathematics and music theory to students through individualized instruction and mastery learning.

     • Developed Individualized Education Plans for and with each student, adjusting throughout the year as progress was made.

     • Co-directed the Philanthropy Club of approximately ten students in volunteer projects in Metro Atlanta.

My second classroom teaching experience was at the Ben Franklin Academy in Atlanta, a private lab school affiliated with Emory University. I taught math (pre-algebra through pre-calculus) and music theory. Because they were each learning at their own pace through individualized education plans, I was able to ensure that each student mastered each component of the lesson before moving on, a process that ultimately enables students to successfully tackle advanced material. Within this mastery learning framework, one of the foundational elements of my teaching is creating an inclusive learning environment by breaking down disciplinary expectations in order to allow students from all academic and cultural backgrounds to access the content of the course. This approach helps prepare students for more advanced coursework in the field.

New American Pathways

Parents as Teachers AmeriCorps Member, Project RISE, September 2014-July 2015

     • Informed refugee mothers about available resources in their community with the aim of self-sufficiency.

     • Instructed approximately sixty refugee and immigrant students primarily in English and math skills in an afterschool program at an international school.

     • Coordinated in-school activities, field trips, and summer camps for refugee and immigrant students to supplement their academic experiences.

My first classroom teaching experience was as an AmeriCorps member serving Atlanta, Decatur, and Clarkston, Georgia. My role was two-fold. During the day, I informed refugee mothers about available resources in their community with the aim of self-sufficiency. I assisted and developed inclusive learning activities for their young children, like creating spaces for parents to share their culture’s children’s songs and making little instruments to accompany them. I also shadowed Head Start teachers during home visits, learning about culturally responsive ways of engaging parents and children in reaching developmental milestones.

Later in the day, my colleagues and I instructed approximately sixty refugee and unaccompanied immigrant students in an afterschool program at an international school. These students were aged thirteen to twenty-one and yet were placed uniformly in middle school because only had limited, disrupted, or no formal education prior to arriving in the United States. I taught English and math and helped to organize activities, fieldtrips, and summer camps. Working with these students was both exciting and discouraging: exciting because they were so eager to learn and worked extremely hard, but also discouraging because the school was wildly under-resourced and the county had so clearly segregated these students and labeled them as less-than-deserving of a well-rounded education. The year after I worked at this school, it was moved next to a prison, painfully highlighting the pipeline that the county expected them to pass through.