​As a middle and high school humanities teacher, I also infused critical theories into my teaching. For example, I had eighth graders who wrote about the interconnections of redlining, perceptions of “good” neighborhoods, and school funding as an equity issue, or explored the intersection of gender and the Industrial Revolution. I also had my 10th graders discuss structure and agency as they relate to short stories like The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Lieu. We explored the themes of identity and the main character’s agency and decisions for assimilation, but we also discussed the structure that forced assimilation and why it is a violent act. I continued this work when I was a visiting English teacher of record at Lincoln High School, where the school contacted me to teach because of my reputation for community building. This school is diverse across different social identities, including race, socioeconomic status, disability, and language, and I consistently ensured that materials were applicable, accessible, and relevant to students and always critically investigated oppressive structures while also ensuring to instill hope. Students in both experiences were applying these large concepts of systemic oppression to their own experiences, and recognizing the interconnectedness of individual struggle and systems. They exemplified this knowledge in their papers, where they discussed their own educational experiences as they related to the education system and larger society, and often found ways to include learnings from their Ethnic Studies coursework, where English and Ethnic Studies were used to complement each other. As a sociology instructor, I have encouraged student critical thinking through writing assessments, including autoethnographic assignments, and games. One such example is using something called Stratified Monopoly, where players are stratified according to social class, and we explore concepts of social mobility within the United States and then tie in intersectional identities as they relate to sociology themes. My students are deeply engaged in these materials and see me model a reflective scholar practice through my interactions with them. 

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Because of my success, I was asked to create a literacy intervention program as well as a curriculum that was embedded into the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) but what measured my success just as much was that students who were historically truant were now attending class and ensuring they were present on campus. It was here in this position that I was teaching middle school students how to critically engage with materials, such as an assignment where they had to take a historical concept and time period we explored and create an informative brochure. Students as young as thirteen years old were creating materials around the Stonewall Riots, the intersection of the Industrial Revolution and gender, redlining, or historical practices that harmed The Tuskegee Airmen. It was because of my critical and innovative teaching practices that I was tasked to create a curriculum for the school rooted in equity. 

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Accessibility is vital for any instruction as well, which is why I am a firm believer in differentiated teaching. One example of differentiated teaching that I provide is that I use different modes of communication and curriculum choices to help students synthesize the materials. Access to readings, videos, as well as audio lectures if online or in-class lectures if in-person allows my students to engage with the materials in different ways so that students who may struggle with one modality have an opportunity to absorb the materials. My differentiation does not stop at curriculum choices, but also my assessments. One approach for my assessments is that I do not rely heavily on only one mode, such as tests. I provide a variety of assessments, from engagement, which can be measured through a variety of assessments, including tests, written papers, videos, and creative reflections. For me, students need to be engaged with the work and it is my job as an educator to provide them opportunities to hone their skills and abilities, but also to reflect on course materials in their strengths while helping to build other skills. This also provides me useful insight into the effectiveness of my instruction and the ways I can adjust to be a better instructor.

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My effectiveness as an instructor has been highlighted by my teaching evaluations and my student responses regarding statistics. Having been a class many students dread, I ensure it remains rigorous, applied, and accessible. I work closely with students to foster their success and have them reflect on their own capabilities through the use of a student portfolio. They work with real data through case studies and have to critically reflect on the data. However, I am also a strong qualitative researcher and teacher, engaging with undergraduates as they craft their own research. Introduction to qualitative research in educational settings, at UCSD, I have students design research questions and collect their own data, coding and analyzing it, then writing an entire qualitative research paper. Students have gone on to submit this for graduate studies, and many have even said that they initially had no interest in conducting their own research, but that this inspired them.

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I believe that deep and often complex theoretical concepts need to be coupled with activities and done in a way that students can see how theory is not only ideas but how they can help transform our society. I believe my job as an educator is to ensure that my students not only are academically successful but also have the tools to take big ideas they will learn in sociology and apply them to the world around them so that we can reshape the present and future. Essentially, my job as an educator is to model the ideas of hope throughout the educational journey for a better future for all.