Teaching and mentorship have been important parts of my scientific career. I was privileged to have the opportunity to engage in scientific research as early as high school, supervised by my mentor and teacher Deborah Day. Ever since being granted this opportunity, I have been passionate about exposing students to the scientific process in high school and college, to help them develop their identities as scientists. I am especially interested in widening exposure to Earth and environmental sciences, a field notorious for its lack of diversity, and want to create equitable and accessible pathways to geo- and environmental sciences for students that are underrepresented in these fields. These pathways have been even more riddled with obstacles during the pandemic, and I have spent much of the past year (2020-21) focusing on virtual experiences and activities that engage students of all backgrounds.
Prior to graduate school, I taught high school STEM (i.e., Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Algebra II - Pre-Calculus) full-time at a small, all-girls Orthodox Jewish high school, Beth Chana Academy, in Orange CT. I also taught the high school seniors an elective in Intro to Spanish Language. In addition to teaching full-time, I tutored my students in SAT and ACT prep after school and provided additional physics tutoring.
I acted as a graduate student instructor for a multitude of courses at UMich: EARTH 202 (Introduction to Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Rockies: a field course), EARTH 296 (Natural History of the Everglades), EARTH 305 (Sedimentology), EARTH 431 (Terrestrial Biomes), EARTH 442 (Soils and Earth Surface Processes), EARTH 446 (Paleoclimatology) and acted as a grader for EARTH 222 (Introduction to Oceanography). In addition to my roles as a GSI, I was employed by UM as an Instructional Aide to help move a series of introductory courses (e.g., Oceanography, Intro to Geology) to online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My experience teaching included research mentorship: during my time at the University of Michigan, I acted as direct supervisor and mentor for six undergraduate students and assisted supervising two additional students. My undergraduate mentees have gone on to pursue graduate studies in applied statistics and geoscience programs, as well as taught for Teach for America. I feel my experiences learning how to do research paved the way for my own passion for science and I believe everyone should have access to these experiences. I want to continue teaching both in an academic classroom and in the laboratory, and my career goals include creating paid (see Jensen et al. 2021) opportunities for high school students and undergraduate students, especially students who have faced additional barriers that have made science inaccessible, to engage with research.
Some of the community outreach I did while at the University of Michigan included working with Wolverine Express through the Center for Educational Outreach to bring Earth Science activities to local high schools. I also teamed up with Earth Science teachers and adminstrators at Ypsilanti Community Schools to create hands-on, graduate student led activities that aligned with their curriculum and allowed students to ask questions about Earth science degrees and careers of UMich affiliates.
Overall, I feel comfortable teaching a wide range of geology, environmental science, biology and even chemistry courses. I am confident teaching intro- courses in all three categories, and can teach geology courses related to Earth surface processes and/or climate and biogeochemistry, environmental science courses about ecosystem development, climate change and anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and chemistry courses related to environmental chemistry and isotopes.
Courses I have taught:
As a graduate student instructor:
EARTH 202 (Introduction to Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Rockies: a field course) in 2018, 2019
EARTH 222 (Introduction to Oceanography) in 2020
EARTH 296 (Natural History of the Everglades) in 2017
EARTH 305 (Sedimentology) in 2017
EARTH 431 (Terrestrial Biomes) in 2020
EARTH 442 (Soils and Earth Surface Processes) in 2019
EARTH 446 (Paleoclimatology) in 2019
As a high school teacher:
9th grade biology
10th grade chemistry
11th grade physics
Algebra II and Pre-Calculus
Spanish Language elective
As a guest lecturer:
EARTH 531 (University of Michigan): Seminar in Geologic Problems "Impostor Syndrome in Academia" 2020
Sedimentology Seminar (University of Houston): "Using strata in southwest Wyoming to reconstruct regional climate in the early Eocene"
EARTH 446 (University of Michigan): Soils & Surface Processes: "Biogeochemistry" 2019
EARTH 442 (University of Michigan): Paleoclimatology - "Proxies for reconstructing paleo-CO2" 2019
EARTH 262 (University of Michigan): Plants & People: "Sugars" (2018), "Grains" (2019)