I have longstanding experience as a teacher and designer of formal and informal learning environments.  Currently, I have been facilitating communities of practice for graduate students (EAH Scholars) since 2018, which is a kind of informal course utilizing the learning platform Canvas as well as other digital tools for portfolio development. I also facilitate or co-facilitate Art + Science + Community Cohorts since 2021, which involve faculty, staff, and students at CU Boulder as well as community-based artists and k12 art and STEM teachers. Cohorts create art and science art artwork and activities utilizing scientists’ and local communitys’ data from across Colorado and address complex environmental and social issues across political and geographical divides.

My past teaching and design work sought to appropriate youths’ practices with digital media for learning that is personally, socially and academically consequential.  All of my teaching experience involves the use of digital media, from teaching High School Multimedia Studies in 1996 in San Francisco, to the design and use of social learning networks and STEM projects in Arizona and Colorado, to my current work with the Inventos Boulder Documentary Video and Research Club. At the University of Arizona and CU Boulder I collaborated with teachers to incorporate new technologies, such as wikis and Minecraft, into their teaching and learning practice. In addition, as an interface designer and website manager for several projects, I partnered with university and k12 educators to integrate digital resources and STEM learning into classrooms and informal learning settings.

2018 – Current Facilitator and developer Engaged Arts and Humanities Student Scholars, seven cohorts of 5-6 students since 2018

2021- Current Facilitator and developer Art + Science + Community Cohorts, four cohorts of 16-25 participants students since 2021

Informal Afterschool STEAM 2014  – 2015              

Instructor, Documentary Video and Research Club for children at local housing community, June 2014, and upcoming Spring 2015. Supported by CU Boulder Outreach Funding: Supporting and Studying Internet Access for Low-income Families

GRADUATE COURSES

2014                Instructor, Educational Psychology for Adolescent Development: Lead developer of a special course and practicum site supported by Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE) funding: Connecting Youth from Nondominant Communities to STEM “Making and Tinkering” in the Social Design Experiment of El Pueblo Mágico, School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder      

2013                Instructor, Educational Psychology for Elementary Schools; School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder         

2013                Instructor, Educational Psychology for Adolescent Development: Lead developer of a special course and practicum site supported by Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE) funding: Enacting a syncretic approach to STEM teaching and learning; School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder

2011                Instructional Team, Educational Psychology for Elementary Schools, School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder       

2009                Graduate Student Instructor, Language Reading & Culture (LRC) Graduate Student Foundations Seminar, University of Arizona

ELEMENTARY/HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS &
INFORMAL/COMMUNITY CONTEXTS

2014 -2015              Instructor, Video Documentary Club for children at local housing community, June 2014, and upcoming Spring 2015. Supported by CU Boulder Outreach Funding: Supporting and Studying Internet Access for Low-income Families

2011-2014         Mentor and facilitator, El Pueblo Magico after school program and 5th dimension club, at  Sanchez Elementary School, Lafayette, CO and Casey Middle School, Boulder, CO

2009-2010       Researcher and Invited Co-instructor, “Mesquite” 101 Writing Course at “Southside” High School (pseudonyms), Sunnyside Unified School District, Tucson, AZ

2008-2009       Instructor, Digital Storytelling for middle and high school teachers and middle school students. University of Arizona College of Science / Tucson GEAR UP Project (COS/GU) and Sunnyside Unified School District, Tucson, AZ

2002-2003       Teacher, 5^th Grade (Self-contained classroom all core subjects and Science for three fifth grade classrooms), Booth-Fickett Math Science Magnet School, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ

2001-2002       Student Teacher, grades 4/5 combination classroom, and Structured English Immersion (SEI) classroom, Duffy Elementary School, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ  (collaborating teacher Dr. Gloria Kauffman)

2000-2001       Researcher-Teacher, Co-instructor in conjunction with MA research, ESL 3^rd grade, “Southside” Tucson Elementary School, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ

2000                Garden and Habitat Science and Literacy Teacher Grades 2-5, The Community Learning Project, Ft. Lowell Elementary School, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ  

1997-98           Teacher, Grades 9-12, Multimedia Studies, Science and Technology Department, Thurgood Marshall Academic High School STEM High School, San Francisco Unified School District, Bayview-Hunter’s Point, San Francisco, CA

1997                Teacher and Community Organizer on Composting methods and Environmental Education, Rural Pinchincha, Corporación Oikos, Conservation NGO, Quito, Ecuador

1995-96           Volunteer Art Teacher and Tutor, Benita House Group Home for Adolescent girls labeled “Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED)”, San Francisco, CA