Learning Design
I have 10 years of experience designing curriculum and culture that supports the way people solve problems and explore the world around them
Experience Timeline
2013-2022
Design Thinking Curriculum
2021-2022
I developed design thinking curriculum for a Los Angeles based non-profit, STEM to the Future, focused on providing Black and Latinx youth with design thinking skills to create the world they want to live in. The curriculum teaches students how to apply design framework to research and design a high-fidelity prototype in Figma that solves a real world social or environmental issue. Delivery included 10 lessons with step-by-step teacher and student instruction, personally designed video tutorials, worksheets and learning activities, a rubric and a scope and sequence to guide facilitators through curriculum implementation. See curriculum sample here.
Neurodiversity
2019-2022
After deepening my understanding of cultural diversity, I wanted to hone my understanding of neurodiversity. To learn about the different ways people think, learn and process information, I took a position at a K-12 Quaker school in Brooklyn that focuses on special education.
I problem solved ways to integrate accommodations into classrooms and curriculum for 200+ learners with a variety of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, autism, dysgraphia, non-verbal learning, and auditory processing delays. To improve learning outcomes, I evaluated the user experience and accessibility of 50+ learning platforms and integrated 15+ platforms into curriculum. I found platforms with digestible multimedia, evaluation tools, progress trackers, feedback loops and collaboration options to be the most effective. Useful accessibility features include color-coded content, simplified language, repetition of design, increased white space and font size, and visual/audio supports. Assessing the unique needs of each learner allowed me to problem-solve ways of presenting material in more digestible and interactive ways.
Neurodiversity & Accessibility
Curriculum Design: EdTech, STEM, Civics & Literacy
I designed middle school curriculum for 5+ content areas with a focus on multi-sensory interventions, assistive technology, and social-emotional learning.
The education technology curriculum and workshops focused on teaching students how to ethically use technology and how to design their own technology through coding and design.
The literacy curriculum provided students with frameworks and strategies to comprehend and analyze text, organize information and express ideas through different forms of writing.
The STEM curriculum focused on helping students learn problem solving skills through project-based learning and CER (claim, evidence, and reasoning). Projects connected students to issues in their local community.
The civics curriculum focused on helping students understand global/local government systems and engage in real world advocacy. One project involved students researching and choosing a current bill to write a letter about to their representative.
I collaborated with colleagues and researched how to cultivate culturally responsive teaching in K-12 classrooms. The research focused on designing a culturally responsive classroom rubric aligned to the social-emotional learning criteria of the school, finding relative literature to share with staff, and partnering with local thought leaders for speaking engagements.
Equity
Cross-Cultural Exchange
2018-2019
After four years of bolstering education in NYC, I grew curious about how other countries approach education. I chose to learn about Indonesia's approach through a Fulbright for a few reasons: 1. Burgeoning democracy 2. World’s largest Muslim majority country 3. Agricultural society that requires sustainable development through STEM education. I was intrigued to learn more about a world quite different from the one I knew.
The most heart felt experiences were those that connected me to the stories of Indonesian people. I was warmly welcomed into a variety of communities across the island of Java. I met and interviewed people across disciplines from education to engineering to mental health to women’s health to art. I also got to learn the customs and lifestyle of the Tengger Tribe of Ranu Pani. The insights helped me gain a deeper understanding of a complex society striving to balance the preservation of historical culture and the environment, while also adapting to the technological and social demands of the future.
Cultural Research
Over the course of 10-months, I taught English to 300+ students at a vocational school focused on engineering and computer science. To further support the school, I learned about their UNESCO sustainability program and successfully fundraised for the development of a composting system. In addition, I led workshops on project-based learning, social-emotional learning, digital storytelling, and diversity, equity, and inclusion for 100+ educators.
Workshops, Problem Solving, and Teaching
Project Based Learning, Social-Emotional Learning, Education Technology
2015-2017
I took the foundational skills I learned in my first two years of teaching and started a position as a K-3 STEM teacher in Harlem. As a STEM teacher I refined my practice and cultivated a pedagogy centered around social-emotional learning (SEL), project based learning (PBL), inquiry based design, and advocacy. My primary focus was to provide students with essential tools to become empathic problem solvers in their community.
EdTech Program | Project-based learning & social-emotional learning
I launched an education technology program that provided 215+ students with innovative technology resources and social-emotional evaluation tools. I researched and evaluated 50+ learning tools, interviewed education technology decision-makers, and designed curriculum and assessment rubrics aligned to the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. All learning tools and written curriculum focused on solving real world problems through inquiry based design thinking and project based learning. Ultimately, we successfully integrated 10+ learning tools into the classroom.
I designed curriculum and programming that provided experiences for students to more deeply interact with community problem solving. To problem solve food related issues, students explored local farmers markets, gardens, and cultivated their own rooftop garden. To problem solve environmental issues, students learned about local issues from specialists in the community and took educational field trips. One project focused on the preservation and stewardship of the Hudson River estuary.
Advocacy | Social & Environmental
Culturally Responsive Teaching & Data Driven Results
2013-2015
After graduating from college in 2012, I started teaching kindergarten in Brooklyn through Teach for America. The community I taught in was not too far from where I went to elementary school. During my first two years of teaching I learned how to develop a culturally responsive teaching practice, cultivate data-driven results, and work on a team to meet goals.
Toolkit
Learning Design Toolkit
My learning design toolkit provides a framework to navigate and adapt to a variety of settings and requirements.
Technical Skills
Research
Product research
Community research
Secondary research
Interviews
Data analysis
Ethnographic research
Behavioral research
Cross-cultural research
Indigenous research
Writing
Curriculum
Instruction
Rubrics
Assessments
Reports
Soft Skills
Community engagement
Conflict resolution
Classroom management
Patience
Presentation
Organization
Time management
Teamwork
Communication
Standards, Approaches, Resources
Frameworks
Design Thinking Framework (UX/UI)
Common Core State Standards (all content)
Next Generation Standards (science & literacy)
Fountas & Pinnell (reading)
Hochman (writing)
CASEL (social-emotional learning framework)
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (equity)
Approaches
Culture: Responsive classroom, culturally responsive teaching, social-emotional learning, diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, Quaker approach
Curriculum: Project-based learning (PBL), inquiry design model, engineering design process, CER (claim, evidence, reasoning), Hochman method
Resources