Teaching
electives, activities, and student projects
electives, activities, and student projects
Electives
Let's Get Schooled
Almaden Country Day School | 2023 | 12-week elective
What does school look like in different parts of the world? How has American schooling evolved over time? How have communities made decisions about who goes to school, who is allowed to teach, what gets included in curriculum, how (or if) students should be graded, and how much control students have over their learning? Does every school have homework, or age-level groupings, or summer vacation? Why do we even have school in the first place? Armed with competing answers to these questions, we will turn our attention to contemporary controversies involving American schools, from book banning and “Don’t Say Gay” to online learning and generative AI. In the end, we’ll be able to offer an educated assessment of our own school and deliver informed design suggestions to those who lead it.
Queer History
Almaden Country Day School | 2021 & 2023 | 12-week elective
Discover the dramatic, inspiring, hidden history of LGBTQ Americans. Meet the transgender indigenous tribal leaders of the nineteenth century, the daring Civil War soldiers who presented as men in order to serve their country, and the famous historical figures whose long-term gay or lesbian relationships have been edited out of our textbooks. Learn about the faulty science that led American culture to view homosexuality as a disorder and the Cold War politics that compelled the government to target its LGBTQ citizens. From depictions of arguably queer characters in early television and classic Disney films to the protest movements that culminated in the Stonewall uprising, from the AIDS crisis to marriage rights and transgender visibility, this elective will take you behind the scenes of the decades-long efforts to achieve dignity and equality for people who don’t fit society’s expectations of gender roles. Students of all identities are welcome and encouraged to join us.
The Intermediate Insider
The Potomac School | 2008-13, 2014-16 | full-year activity
Join the staff of our student newspaper, The Intermediate Insider! You'll learn how to conduct interviews, plan coverage, draft articles, and edit one another's work. The Insider covers news and sports at Potomac and around the world and also includes profiles of interesting community members and student clubs; reviews of books, films, and restaurants; timely opinion essays; original cartoons and games; recipes; and our signature advice column, "Ask Guru." Help drive what everyone's talking about and contribute to the vibrancy of our community!
Presidential Campaign 2024
Almaden Country Day School | 2024 | 12-week elective
Grab a front-row seat to the most consequential, unusual, and nerve-wracking presidential election campaign in U.S. history. With President Biden no longer running, former President Donald Trump is challenging Vice President Kamala Harris amid fierce debates over immigration, price increases, abortion, foreign aid, and democracy itself. We’ll follow the day-to-day drama of the campaign, learn about how American elections work and the peculiar mechanisms that could allow either candidate to win, and examine the contests for Congress and local offices that also will be decided on November 5. In the final two weeks of this nonpartisan elective, we’ll discuss the election results and propose improvements to the system. All political parties and ideologies are welcome for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Wacky Advertising Agency
Almaden Country Day School | 2023-24 | 1-week summer camp
This camp throws creative, persuasive, hilarious kids into an advertising agency together to plan, rehearse, and film commercial parodies for original fake products. We’ll analyze the time-tested techniques of actual ads and evaluate the humor in SNL-style spoof ads before embarking on our own comedic exploits. Our camper-produced ads will be fun and zany but will also provide us with a new critical perspective on what companies try to sell us.
The Introvert Corner
High Tech High | 2019 | 8-week elective
Do you need a quiet space to think after working in groups all day? Do you feel pressured to be loud and boisterous at a school where people can't stop talking? Would you rather curl up with a good book or a nice chat with a friend than schmooze with thirty people at a party? Each day in The Introvert Corner, we will explore a different aspect of introversion as discussed in the book Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids by Susan Cain. Expect low-pressure, deeply enriching conversations, using a mix of speaking and writing. Loud-mouths need not apply.
Ask The Mask: A Student Advice Column
Almaden Country Day School | 2020 & 2022-23 | 12-week elective
Ask The Mask is an online advice column published and written by middle schoolers. Students at ACDS and around the world submit anonymous letters about dilemmas related to friends, crushes, parents and siblings, homework, and lots more. We’re looking for dedicated, wise, and witty students to sift through letter submissions, collaborate on composing responses to the most interesting letters, and publish a new batch of responses each week throughout the trimester. There also will be opportunities to create multimedia features for the Ask The Mask website. Join our team to offer your advice, both serious and humorous, in service to your community.
Introduction to Guitar
Holton-Arms School & Almaden Country Day School | 1997-2000; 2024 | 3-week summer camp
Learn to play guitar! We'll learn the chords used most often in modern pop music and practice playing our favorite songs (singing optional). We'll also reveal some secrets to writing a hit song and try to compose some of our own using time-tested formulas. Campers will end the week having produced a recording of their best work. No experience necessary; guitars provided.
Assassination Exploration
Almaden Country Day School | 2022-25 | 12-week elective
In this elective, we will immerse ourselves in the stories of dramatic, history-altering assassinations. For each assassination, we’ll learn about the contrasting life journeys of the prominent target and their future attacker; the historical and political context that put the target’s life in danger; the minute-by-minute narrative of how it unfolded; and the immediate aftermath and longer-term societal ramifications of the crime. Along the way, we’ll discuss challenging questions involving vengeance, forgiveness, arrogance, political violence, and the balance between freedom and security.
History of Rock Music
Almaden Country Day School | 2021 & 2024 | 12-week elective
Explore the history of popular music during the rock era of the 1950s through the 1990s. We’ll listen to lots of music, learn about the careers of famous bands and singers, analyze the phenomenon of the teen idol, assess the underrated influence of Black and queer artists and the roots of the “British invasion,” and write our own reviews of classic rock albums. We’ll even dabble in some simple songwriting ourselves, from silly love ballads to serious protest anthems, as we channel the approaches that made this style of music so successful for so long. A fun and relaxed elective that will turn you into a music expert!
TED Talking
Almaden Country Day School | 2021 & 2024 | 12-week elective
How can you spot a liar? Does your posture affect your confidence? Can you really dry your hands with just a single paper towel? The TED website (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is filled with short, captivating video “talks” in which experts explore fascinating questions like these. In the first half of the trimester, we’ll view a variety of TED talks together and share reactions, wonderings, and connections to our own experiences. Later, we’ll use a series of humorous parody videos to dissect the structure of a successful TED talk before brainstorming, researching, scripting, and rehearsing our own original TED talks, to be filmed live in front of an audience for distribution within the ACDS community.
Laugh Track: The Art of the Sitcom
Almaden Country Day School | 2023 | 12-week elective
Before internet streaming services and infinite cable channels, the great American pastime involved sitting on the couch at 8:00 p.m. to watch half-hour “situation comedies” (sitcoms) broadcast on NBC, CBS, or ABC. Popular sitcoms like I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, and Friends both reflected and influenced the culture of their eras. They also adhered to time-tested artistic formulas in order to tell compelling stories and make people laugh. Each day in this elective, we will view a classic episode of a sitcom from the second half of the twentieth century and analyze both its artistry and its cultural significance. We’ll also figure out what’s up with that contagious laugh track. You’ll never watch TV the same way again.
Politics 2022: Midterm Madness!
Almaden Country Day School | 2022 | 12-week elective
Many political observers predict that in this November’s U.S. “midterm” elections, Democrats will lose control of both houses of Congress, giving Republicans momentum heading into the next presidential contest. How likely is this, what makes it likely, and what factors might change this trajectory? In September and October, we’ll follow the most interesting campaigns for Senate, House, and governorships around the country, along with studying how these elections are conducted and evaluating ideas for reforming the process. Then, after the November 8th elections, we’ll assess the results and what they might mean for the country. Republicans, Democrats, and independents are all welcome. Anything can happen during election season, so join us for this exciting deep dive into the history unfolding before our eyes.
Student Projects
Movement Monuments
Almaden Country Day School | 2023-25 | 4-week project
Each Grade 8 student selected a social justice movement that they wanted to learn more about. Their research focused on the movement’s approaches to activism and its influence on debates and policy. Concurrently, they designed monuments that would convey, through symbolism, a significant insight about their movement.
Rituals of the Nacirema
Almaden Country Day School | 2020-24 | 3-week project
In his now-famous 1956 anthropology article "Body Ritual of the Nacirema," Horace Miner sought to explain the "rituals," "charms," and "shrines" of a "magic-ridden people." The twist is that Nacirema is simply "American" spelled backward — and the odd and disturbing traditions he describes are in fact our own everyday routines. As part of our effort to de-center Western culture as we learn about the world, each Grade 7 student composed their own Nacirema anthropologist report after closely observing an everyday American routine. Hilarious and eye-opening.
Creative Writing
The Potomac School and High Tech High
Collections of published student writing from my language arts classes.
Parallel Stories: Compose a short story featuring two seemingly unrelated elements that, when you think about it, actually follow similar narrative arcs. (2012)
Historical Fiction: Research an event or era in twentieth-century United States history and then compose a short work of fiction set in that time period. (2014)
Vignettes: Compose a humorous, action-packed, heart-wrenching, or shocking vignette in the style of Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. (2015)
MindShift: Compose a narrative that "humanizes" an issue you feel strongly about. (2018)
Core Curriculum
In each of my teaching positions, I've provided periodic narrative updates for the parents of my students, which reveal how I think about curriculum design, classroom pedagogy, and thematic learning.
English Grade 7 - The Potomac School, 2010-13
English Grade 8 - The Potomac School, 2007-10, 2013-16
Social Studies Grade 6 (ancient civilizations) - Almaden Country Day School, 2023-24
Social Studies Grade 7 (global studies) - Almaden Country Day School, 2020-23, 2024-25
Social Studies Grade 8 (U.S. history) - Almaden Country Day School, 2020-25
Interdisciplinary Humanities Grade 7 - High Tech High, 2018-20
Jewish Studies
Name That Jew: Competing Visions of Jewish Identity
Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego | 2017-18 | 11-week evening course
How do Jews assimilate into the wider American culture and infuse the culture with their Jewishness in the process? Each week, we will investigate the journeys of well-known American Jews to uncover the strands of Jewish tradition embedded in their contributions to American society. Along the way, we will engage with competing visions of what it means to be a Jew in America and figure out which of these visions we most wish to emulate.
Read my letter to parents.
Read more about each weekly investigation.
World Religions through a Jewish Lens
Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego | 2017-18 | 11-week evening course
This course is an effort to understand our Judaism more deeply by comparing and contrasting it with other major faith traditions. We will explore Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and atheism, both on their own terms and in the context of Jewish texts, beliefs, and history. We will also discuss the accelerating tension between liberal and fundamentalist strands of all faiths and the consequences of religious tribalism in today’s global and domestic politics.
Read my letter to parents.
Read more about each weekly investigation.
Being Jewish and White in America
Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego | 2016-17 | 11-week evening course
The story of the Jewish people is one of marginalization in societies throughout the world. Yet in today’s America, white people, including most Jews, benefit from invisible advantages that are not afforded to other religious and ethnic minority groups. In this elective, we will examine how this system of privilege works and then contemplate what our social obligation might be as Jews living within this system, particularly as we enter an uncertain new era of identity-group conflict. There are no right answers, but many important questions. (Co-taught with Rabbi Alyson Solomon)