I actively seek out opportunities to improve my teaching. I have designed and taught several courses while at UCLA including Magic, Medicine, and Science in the Ancient World; Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture; How Smell Shapes the World; and Now as Then: The Cultural Reception of Ancient Egypt as Myth. I have additional syllabi for as-yet untaught courses on Women and Power in the Ancient World (adopted from a course I TA’d for extensively) and an environmental humanities course Senses and Reality: What’s Real Anyway?. I’d be happy to share these syllabi with you.
I also work for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at UCLA as the Educational Development Fellow where I help develop programming for faculty and graduate student instructors centered around equitable course design.
Some of my favorite approaches to teaching have been built from strategies outlined by UDL, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, and Jesse Stommel (Ungrading). I seek to incorporate students’ whole selves in their learning–whether its through smell walks or VR, gaming or 3D-printed artifacts. Students use technology purposefully in my classes–to achieve the goals I set for them and to discover new ones along the way. Also, by limiting numerical grading to the bare minimum in exchange for extensive feedback, students no longer stress about submitting their assignments but take pride in experimentation and discovery.
I greatly enjoy talking about teaching, so reach out if you want to continue the conversation!