At the core of my teaching philosophy is a commitment to critical pedagogy, application-based learning, and fostering deep investigative inquiry. I believe that education is a collaborative process that equips students with knowledge and the ability to interrogate the world, challenge power structures, and see themselves as active participants in knowledge production. My teaching is informed by my interdisciplinary research on epistemic borders, identity, and social structures, as well as my background in participatory methodologies, qualitative research, and creative inquiry.

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I have designed and implemented student-centered learning experiences that bridge theory and practice, ensuring that students engage critically with course materials while applying sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives to the real world. Application is at the heart of my teaching, whether through community-based projects, autoethnographic writing, participatory research, or simulations that illustrate systemic inequities. My goal as an educator is to foster spaces of inquiry, challenge dominant narratives, and foster students’ ability to think critically about the world.
 

As a middle and high school humanities teacher, I infused critical theory and sociological analysis into my curriculum to engage students in deep inquiry and systemic critique. In my eighth-grade classrooms, students explored redlining, perceptions of “good” neighborhoods, and school funding as equity issues, writing about how these structures shaped their own communities. My 10th graders analyzed structure and agency through The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, discussing identity, assimilation, and systemic violence. This approach allowed students to situate their own lived experiences within broader sociological concepts, developing both critical awareness and analytical depth.

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At Lincoln High School, where I served as a visiting English teacher, I continued this work in a diverse school community across racial, socioeconomic, disability, and linguistic lines. I was invited to teach because of my reputation for community-building and student engagement, and I ensured that my curriculum was relevant, accessible, and critically engaged with systems of power. Students examined their own educational experiences through an intersectional lens, integrating learnings from Ethnic Studies and English to explore the interconnectedness of individual struggle and systemic oppression.

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Due to my success in fostering student engagement, I was tasked with creating a literacy intervention program and curriculum embedded into the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation process. This curriculum was rigorous and research-based and built upon equity-driven pedagogical frameworks. I designed assignments such as a historical analysis project, where students as young as 13 created informative brochures on topics like the Stonewall Riots, the gendered impacts of the Industrial Revolution, redlining, and the Tuskegee Airmen. These projects allowed students to synthesize historical and sociological knowledge in creative, accessible ways, reinforcing my belief that learning is not about rote memorization but about meaning-making, storytelling, and active engagement.

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My commitment to applied learning and critical pedagogy remains in my role as a sociology instructor, where I develop activities that make abstract theories tangible. For example, I utilize Stratified Monopoly, where students are assigned different social classes and must navigate systemic barriers to mobility. This experiential learning tool allows students to apply sociological concepts in real time, fostering critical engagement and personal reflection.

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Beyond the classroom, I have worked to institutionalize mentorship and research engagement by creating a student research lab that offers guided mentorship, research training, and community-based collaboration. My goal in building this space was to create an environment where students are not just passive recipients of knowledge but active co-creators of research and scholarship. Many of my undergraduate students have presented at conferences or pursued graduate study after engaging in these research collaborations.

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I also bring this foundation into my Introduction to Qualitative Research in Educational Settings course at UCSD, where students design original research questions, collect and analyze data, and produce full qualitative research papers. Many students enter the course believing they have little interest in research, only to find themselves deeply invested in the process of knowledge production and inquiry. Several have used their research for graduate applications or future publications, demonstrating the transformative potential of student-driven research.​​
 

Accessibility is also a tenant of my teaching philosophy. I firmly believe in differentiated instruction, ensuring that all students—regardless of background, learning style, or ability—have multiple pathways to engage with material. I employ multiple modes of lesson delivery, including readings, videos, podcasts, and live lectures. Similarly, my assessments are varied and multimodal, allowing for their understanding to be displayed through written analysis, creative projects, oral presentations, and multimedia storytelling.

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While many students approach statistics and research methods with apprehension, I am committed to making data analysis accessible, applied, and engaging. My students work with real-world datasets, conduct their own research, and critically reflect on data as a tool for understanding social issues. In my qualitative research courses, students develop research questions, collect their own data, and analyze it through coding methods, ultimately writing their own research papers grounded in real-world inquiry. This approach has inspired students to develop more confidence in the work they are doing. 

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I firmly believe that theory must be connected to action and that students should see themselves as capable of making significant change in their community and reshaping the world around them. My pedagogy is tied to hope, imagination, and the belief that education is not just about personal success but about collective transformation. Whether I am teaching middle school students or mentoring researchers, my role as an educator is to model inquiry, foster critical thinking, and empower students to see their work as part of a larger social and intellectual movement.

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By integrating critical pedagogy, participatory inquiry, and creative methodologies, I cultivate learning environments that not only equip students with academic skills but also provide the foundation for them to view knowledge as a tool for justice and liberation.