I root my teaching in a mission to inspire a practice of lifelong learning and environmental stewardship. My lessons urge students to question, investigate and observe the world around them. I am drawn to and create curricula that is experiential, creative, and interdisciplinary. I prioritize the incorporation of arts and humanities within environmental education to build emotional connections to the scientific content they learn. For example, one of my favorite activities is called “sit spots” where students sit quietly on the trail while drawing and writing what they observe. During a field trip I led, one second grade student had proclaimed that he disliked drawing and wouldn’t participate. Throughout the day it was a struggle to get him engaged with our scavenger hunt filled with scientific observation and hypothesis making. However, after 15 minutes of sitting in nature with his nature journal, he returned with a colorful scene of the trail with a tall tree in the center of the page. He excitedly described that he had drawn a Douglas-fir tree and Licorice fern which we learned about during our scavenger hunt. On our walk back to the bus he shared that he could not wait to continue nature journaling at home. Through art centered activities like these, I hope to employ my students with creative outlets to learn and build a relationship with nature. 

I am also inspired and informed by the framework of engaged pedagogy taught by bell hooks. hooks teaches that education must connect the mind, body, and spirit. Outdoor education that gets students moving, thinking, and creating in nature is exceptional at facilitating this process. Engaged pedagogy also teaches that students expect their education to enrich and enhance their lives. This requires vulnerability, openness, and lessons that make connections to what is happening in our lives. Furthermore, I seek to resist white supremacy, class-based hierarchy, and all forms of oppression that sustain a culture of domination and exclusion in the classroom. Instead, I embrace multiculturalism by welcoming diverse ways of knowing and learning to build a community where everyone feels a responsibility to contribute. These values and practices underscore my commitment to inclusive and equitable learning outcomes for my students. 

Finally, the Awareness to Action framework outlined in the 1977 Tbilisi Declaration also guides my teaching philosophy.  As a result, I focused on planting seeds of environmental awareness and knowledge within my students. I hope these seeds will sprout and be nourished with skill-building that empowers my students to take action on environmental issues they are drawn to. As an environmental educator it is also necessary that I lead by example. My contributions to the Environmental Leadership Program, the UO Climate Justice League, and community organizing demonstrates my commitment to taking action and enacting change.