My research centers social-justice and practice-based teacher education and teacher induction. I currently have a grant from the Barr Foundation to study Brown's efforts and inroads into effectively mentoring and supporting teachers in their first five years in the profession. I also serve on a research team with Heather Hill (Harvard University) and am coordinating a study that examines whether mentoring conversations with an experienced teacher can influence the interests of elite undergraduate students in teaching and education.

Finally, my work brings together Brown University researchers and the local community. For example, I'm coordinating a regular professional development series that brings local teachers together with Brown Researchers in the sciences and Humanities to discuss relevant classroom applications. 

 

Annenburg Institute at Brown University

I treach graduate courses in foundations of teaching and understanding community assets and structural inequities in the education system. At the undergraduate level, I teach courses that offer introductions to the practice, art, and science of teaching and help students make meaningful connections between theory and practice. My graduate courses emphasize relationship-building and skills-building to develop excellent pre-service teachers, while my undergraduate teaching brings my practical expertise to the broader Brown community. At ever level, I expect all students in my classes to engage with the content and with each other.  I believe that, when students construct knowledge in collaboration with one another, they gain new knowledge and skills, but can also shift their orientations and ways of thinking. One student put it this way: “Learning helped us stretch our mindsets and create new perspectives.”