TEACHING

Before teaching in the academy I worked from 2008-2011 for Sunrise School for Ecological Living, an environmental education non-profit in the Navajo Nation. We partnered with multiple organizations such as Diné College, the Navajo Nation Episcopal Church, the Tséhootsooí Medical Center, and the Navajo Boys and Girls Club. Our activities were focused on providing children and young adults with opportunities to participate in native plant restoration and traditional agriculture. This background in teaching through cooperative endeavors showed me that being an educator is not only about your work in the classroom but also your work in the community and how that becomes connected with student learning opportunities.

Therefore I approach teaching in its methodological and performative aspects with an awareness of the academy as a colonial institution that participates in cycles of racist, sexist, and classist oppression. Hence, teaching is not a neutral but rather a personal and political activity as laden with the danger of violence as it is with emancipatory potential. As an instructor I take seriously the possibility for my actions to either repeat dominant structures or to provide an inclusive and collaborative learning experience that provides space for all students to critically engage their own experience and knowledge. The teaching strategies I implement to achieve these goals are decolonizing and critical pedagogies combined with interdisciplinary and community-based research models.

Inspired by my background in Indigenous pedagogies, I design the content and structure of my courses to center voices that challenge the epistemic privilege of white heteropatriarchal colonial power. For example, my syllabi put Native and other non-white voices first rather than including them as “diversity” units towards the end of the term. The learning outcomes of this strategy are apparent when my students are quick to see the implicit racism of, for example, Aldo Leopold who wrote in the 1940s, “There is as yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to the land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it.” In addition, decolonizing pedagogy keeps students from a wider variety of backgrounds invested in conversations because they see their own point of view as valuable to the creation of knowledge in the course. As one participant commented in their course evaluation, “Having the diversity in course materials led to a more interesting class.”

A core part of my teaching strategy is to develop dialogical and non-objectifying relationships with students. I do this by addressing my students as whole human beings whose academic learning is integrally related to the rest of their lives. The practices through which I enact this principle are the following: 1) by building diverse syllabi that undermine the monocultural aspects of academic research, 2) by recognizing that my own history is incongruent with many of my students’ and seeking grounds for collaboration and shared learning, 3) by actively involving students in their own assessment and holding them accountable to their own standards for academic success, 4) by acknowledging the embodied life of my students, and 5) by keeping up-to-date on current events and applying course material to what is happening in the world. I firmly believe that these practices can be enacted at every level and scale of instruction.

One method of instruction that has been successful for me is to invite students, faculty, and community members from diverse backgrounds to speak on topics of concern to the class. This puts overly broad and theoretical problems into real-life contexts that impact students on a personal level. One student commented, “Issues about global climate change, exploitation of minorities, gender inequality, biodiversity, amongst others, were all clearly and compellingly portrayed; many in a new light for me. The knowledge I gathered in this class will stick with me and has already caused alterations in my lifestyle and those around me.” It is this kind of impact that I look for when assessing class outcomes.

While powerful and productive, linking course material to the lives of students also gives rise to significant in-class challenges. Controversial and deeply personal topics such as sexual assault and racism put vulnerable students in the classroom at risk of feeling attacked, potentially activating personal and historical trauma. If handled correctly, such discussions can be empowering for students who want their voices heard. However, they can also be disastrous. My strategy for mediating such discussions in productive ways is to provide a background of intellectual tools that empower the most vulnerable students in class. In so doing I demonstrate to these students that I have their back and recognize the significance of their knowledge and feelings. Even if privileged students say hurtful things in class, other students do not feel as though the rug has been pulled out from under them and have ways to fight back and stand up for themselves.

My home department at the University of Oregon employed faculty from almost every department on campus. Hence, I have a deep familiarity with interdisciplinary teaching methods and remain dedicated to collaborating with a diversity of colleagues to meet the educational needs of students. To me, interdisciplinarity not only represents an emergent mode of research, but also a necessary path forward in addressing the complex and non-linear aspects of identity, inequality, and justice. In this spirit, I have mentored students on community-oriented research projects in many different settings. In a class on public land use, I facilitated a student audit of Bark!, a Portland-based environmental non-profit, analyzing its merit in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This research was presented at the UO Undergraduate Research Symposium. As a graduate employee in the Ethnic Studies Department, I gave feedback and mentored students on research projects relating to Native American environmental justice. Each student wrote a paper and created a solutions-based poster that was presented at the Many Nations Longhouse. In a class focused on the environmental politics of Oregon, students were tasked with carrying out in-depth investigations of local issues. I guided students in reaching out to organizations and individuals to enhance their learning.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

COURSES TAUGHT

• Environmental Studies 345, Environmental Ethics (Sample Syllabus)

  • In-person classes for the Summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015; Spring 2015, Fall 2018; online classes for the Summers of 2016, 2017, and 2018

TEACHING ASSISTANT

• Environmental Studies 201 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Social Sciences, Winter 2019

• Ethnic Studies 350 Native Americans and the Environment, Spring 2017

• Ethic Studies 250 Introduction to African American Studies, Winter 2017

• Geography 410, Oregon Environmental Politics, Fall 2016

• Environmental Studies 345 Environmental Ethics, Spring 2016, Fall 2014, Fall 2012

• Philosophy 102 Ethics, Winter 2016

• Environmental Studies 225 Introduction to Food Studies, Fall 2015

• Environmental Studies 202 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Natural Sciences, Winter 2015

• Philosophy 170, Love and Sex, Spring 2014

• Philosophy 332, Philosophy of Film, Winter 2014

• Philosophy 101 Philosophical Problems, Fall 2013

• Environmental Studies 203 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Environmental Humanities, Spring 2013

• Environmental Studies 440 Environmental Aesthetics, Winter 2013

• Philosophy 103, Critical Reasoning, Spring 2012

• Philosophy 340, Environmental Philosophy, Winter 2012

• Philosophy 307, Social and Political Philosophy, Fall 2011

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ

COURSES TAUGHT

• Writing 100, Composition and Rhetoric, Spring 2008, Spring 2009

TEACHING ASSISTANT

• Philosophy 9, Logic, Winter 2008, Winter 2009

• Education 110, The Evolution of Education, Fall 2007, Fall 2008

SUNRISE SCHOOL FOR ECOLOGICAL LIVING 501(c)(3)

2008-2011, Tséhootsooí (Fort Defiance), Navajo Nation

DUTIES PERFORMED

• Managing land restoration projects and programs (planting native shrubs, trees, forbes, grasses, sedges, etc.)

• Providing free traditional/regenerative agriculture programs to Navajo schools, hospitals, and families

• Free distribution of Native plants and seeds to organizations and families

• Construction of fully accessible greenhouse classroom space in Tséhootsooí

• Finance management/treasurer

• Web design