As a graduate of Columbia University, Teachers College with a master’s in social studies education, I have a strong academic background in U.S. History, political science and economics combined with relevant student instruction in NYC public schools, including teaching history at NEST+M. More recently, I taught chess at OUSD and HUSD while currently running the after-school chess program for Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Emeryville. I also have experience teaching English literature,...
As a graduate of Columbia University, Teachers College with a master’s in social studies education, I have a strong academic background in U.S. History, political science and economics combined with relevant student instruction in NYC public schools, including teaching history at NEST+M. More recently, I taught chess at OUSD and HUSD while currently running the after-school chess program for Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Emeryville. I also have experience teaching English literature, including international stints as an ESL teacher.
Aside from teaching, I owned and operated the highest volume bar in Oakland - Make Westing until our closure last year (an incredibly long story!). Before Make Westing, I started an online marketing company and before that held a variety of writing and editing media positions; including work as an editorial trainer for Ugandan reporters at a Kampala daily, a travel editor for Penguin’s Rough Guides and a contract reporter for Sports Illustrated, a general assignment sports reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and a metro reporter for the Contra Costa Times.
My passion for History, however, began as a student at the College Preparatory School in Oakland and was fostered at Columbia, where we were taught pedagogical methods that compelled students to survey all sides of an issue be it affirmative action, the death penalty or the Vietnam war to name a few. For me, now more than ever, learning from history, is critical to students understanding of the nation and the world that surrounds them, especially current events with our Federal government.
