The curricula I have written embody my commitment to equity in the classroom, and to creating transformative educational opportunities for a range of students spanning cultural, socioeconomic, gender, and language backgrounds.
In addition to writing new curricula, I have worked with organizations to reinvent and update curricula already in use. I enjoy this process because it is an opportunity to learn from and capitalize on the areas of strength in the existing curriculum while supplementing it to address areas of weakness. This process of transformation is at the heart of what I consider to be a good education. As educators we have many effective tools already, and we should use them. We also live in a rapidly changing world to which we must help our students adapt. This is an on-going process, and one with which students need to learn to engage as well, alongside learning the concrete facts and skills we wish to impart.
K-12th Grade Special Education and Technology curricula, Advancement Courses, 2017
This series of online continuing education course for K-12th grade teachers shows both special education and inclusive classroom teachers how to best support their students with special needs through the use of technology. From assistive technologies to behavior management and engagement, these courses provide an overview of tools available, along with the logistics and planning skills necessary to successfully implement them in the classroom.
K-12th Grade STEAM curriculum, Advancement Courses, 2016
This online continuing education course for K-12th grade teachers focuses on integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM). In this course teachers learn how to design complex projects with real-world applications that engage students in using the various thinking and design skills of the STEAM disciplines in an integrated way. Teachers gain resources for planning and executing integrated projects in collaboration with colleagues.
K-6th Grade Literacy and Creativity professional development curriculum for teachers, Advancement Courses, 2016
This online continuing education course for elementary school teachers trains educators in integrating the arts and creative expression into their literacy instruction. With a focus on teaching for understanding, project-based learning, and deeply engaging students, teachers learn the tools, logistical considerations, and resources needed to infuse their literacy instruction with opportunities for student creative expression.
3rd-8th Grade Media Arts and Technology curricula, Streetside Stories, 2013-2014
These project-based learning curricula are for classroom teachers in grades 3 through 8 and integrate Visual and Performing Arts Standards, Common Core Standards, and California State Standards using iPads. Some of the projects for which I have designed curricula include stop motion animation films about scientific principals, comics about historical events or exploring perspective in creative writing, and narrated slide shows about an animal and its habitat.
K-8th Grade Social Studies curriculum, The Sholem Educational Institute, 2012-2013
This curriculum includes four areas of focus and a spiral design so that students can engage more deeply and critically with areas of historical importance as their cognitive ability increases through the elementary and middle school years. Leading this project I worked with all grade-level teachers, the principal, and key parents and specialists at the school. Beginning with an assessment of the current curriculum and moving through a survey of comparable schools’ curricula, I developed the focal areas and strategies for covering content in each grade, including an emphasis on media literacy and critical thinking.
6th-12th Grade ELA media literacy curricula, Critical Teaching in Action, 2013
This curriculum includes a DVD of short documentary and narrative films made by youth, a discussion guide, and printable handouts for teachers to use in their English Language Arts classrooms. Some of the California ELA Standards covered by this curriculum include Narrative Analysis and Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications. Some of the California Common Core State Standards covered by this curriculum include Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration, as well as 21st Century Skills as delineated by the Department of Education.
K-12th Grade Safe Space in the Classroom Curricula and Professional Development Trainings, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, 2009-2012
These ELA curricula for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms help nurture a culture of safety, acceptance, and tolerance for gender diversity in the classroom. These curricula address the needs of girls, boys, transgender, and gender non-conforming students, based on my graduate research regarding the experiences of transgender youth in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I have trained hundreds of student teachers at UCLA, USC, and Mt. Saint Mary’s on creating a safe classroom space for students of all genders, with an emphasis on the ways in which class, race, nation of origin, immigration status, and family structure impact students’ experiences in and out of the classroom. I have taught this curricula in classrooms as a guest teacher, provided one-on-one coaching to teachers, and tailored the curriculum to the needs of an individual teacher with a unique classroom need.
Transforming Education 