Teaching

🧭 Introduction / Teaching Philosophy

As an interdisciplinary educator, coach, and music history scholar, I design inclusive, project-based learning environments that foster critical thinking, collaboration, and cultural inquiry. Grounded in the humanities, music studies, and media production, my teaching integrates both humanistic and technical perspectives.

With over two decades of experience in high school and university classrooms, I’ve taught English, history, music, and media while mentoring student-athletes, leading outdoor expeditions, and guiding creative, collaborative projects. Across these settings, I create hands-on spaces where students build ideas through teamwork, reflection, and practice.

Rooted in my AIM Teaching Philosophy—Active learning, Interdisciplinary thinking, and a Multicultural commitment to comparative study, equity and empathy—I support diverse learning profiles through strategies like mind mapping, multimedia, and collaborative discussion. My goal is to help students engage deeply with complex ideas and grow intellectually, socially, and creatively.

🎓 Secondary Teaching

Substitute Teaching & Classroom Leadership

Long-Term and Community-Based Roles

Since 2021, I have supported Montgomery County Public Schools as a reliable and adaptable substitute teacher, with experience across multiple disciplines and school settings.

I have taught in a wide range of subjects including History, English, Special Education, PE, Health, and Music, bringing subject knowledge, flexibility, and classroom leadership to each role.

I approach each assignment with professionalism, curiosity, and a commitment to student engagement. Most recently I held a long-term placement in the English Department at James Hubert Blake High School and I have also taught High School History and Middle School science in long-term substitute positions. I’ve supported younger learners at my daughter’s elementary school and subbed across elementary and middle schools, including at Takoma Park Middle School.

However, the majority of my substitute teaching has been as a daily sub at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda MD, where I also coach athletics and maintain strong, ongoing relationships with students, teachers, staff and parents.

Subjects Taught

• History
• English
• Writing and Critical Thinking
• Special Education
• PE & Health
• Music
• Middle School Science

Core Strengths

• Adaptable across disciplines – able to step confidently into a wide range of subject areas, from humanities to PE and music.
• Reliable and professional – I maintain a consistent, dependable presence in diverse school communities.
• Strong communicator – I collaborate effectively with teachers, staff, and administrators to ensure instructional continuity.
• Builds rapport quickly – I connect with students and establishe a positive, respectful classroom culture.

📚 Secondary Courses Designed and Taught

Brown University

Politics, Poetry, and Music (Discussion seminar for High School Students , Summer 2009, 2010)

Politics, Poetry & Music: Teaching at the Intersection of Culture and Politics

As a college-level seminar designed with younger learners in mind, Politics, Poetry & Music reflects my approach to teaching across secondary and post-secondary contexts. In this course, students explore the social and political power of music through hands-on projects, lyrical analysis, and global case studies. They examine how music shapes identity and drives change, drawing on interdisciplinary methods from history, literature, and social science. The course models the kind of active, inclusive, and comparative learning I bring to the classroom, and shows how music and media can foster critical thinking, cultural awareness, and student voice.

🎶 

Politics, Poetry & Music, in relation to the

AIM Philosophy:

Active

• Participate in a seminar-style classroom where students and instructor engage as co-learners in discussion and creative inquiry
• Complete hands-on, in-class projects that explore the political and poetic dimensions of music
• Develop and present an original research project, applying techniques from literary, historical, anthropological, and musicological analysis
• Learn and apply basic digital audio production skills using multimedia facilities
• Use Brown’s digital library tools to locate, evaluate, and incorporate diverse research materials

Interdisciplinary

• Study music through the lenses of literature, history, anthropology, and sound studies
• Analyze lyrics as complex texts, blending poetic structure with socio-political narrative
• Practice critical interpretation of both primary and secondary sources, with an emphasis on crafting clear arguments and improving writing skills
• Investigate how musicians contribute to and reflect political discourse, resistance movements, and cultural expression
• Connect technological, historical, and aesthetic developments in South America and the U.S. to broaden understanding of music’s role in global contexts

Multicultural

• Examine musical traditions from the Americas and Africa, with attention to race, class, and postcolonial histories
• Identify and describe world musical styles, exploring their sonic features and cultural significance
• Explore music as a generator of individual, national, and diasporic identity
• Reflect on how global, national, and local politics shape musical practices
• Encourage students to bring their own musical, cultural, and linguistic knowledge into classroom conversations and research

💬 Politics, Poetry, and Music Student Feedback

🎓 University Teaching Experience

📚 Courses Taught

Towson University

• Introduction to Music in the United States (Spring 2018)

• World Music: the Americas, Africa, and Western Europe (Fall 2017)

Brown University

• Politics, Poetry, and Music (Seminar, Summer 2009, 2010)
• History of Jazz (TA, Spring 2009)
• Introduction to Western Classical Music (TA, Fall 2009)
• Music and Modern Life (TA, Fall 2008)

Ex’pression College for New Media

• Audio Recording and Mixing (Fall, Spring 2000)

💡Courses Prepared to Teach

🧠 Humanities

• American Literature
• Poetry
• Creative Writing
• American History
• Social Studies
• AP African American History
• World History
• Religious Studies

🎵 Music & Sound Studies

• World Music
• Music of the African Diaspora
• Music of Brazil
• Popular Music
• American Musical History
• Anthropology/Ethnomusicology

🎛️ Technology & Production

• Audio Production
• Music Technology
• Media Studies

🧾 Sample Syllabi PDF Gallery

📘 Sample Course Designs: These courses were developed for advertising purposes or for jobs I applied for a various junctures.

• Politics, Poetry and Music(early draft of syllabus designed to make it attractive to students and parents in summer sessions course catalog in order to register full class.)

Sound Studio Techniques Syllabus designed for American University in 2019