ABOUT ME

I’m an educator with more than 30 years of experience. I’ve taught many courses and levels in Social Studies and English Language Arts, and I was a school counselor for two years. In 2019 I began writing standards-based classroom materials, the NCGE Bell Ringers, for the National Council for Geographic Education. You can see a sample of that work here. Since 2020 when my first proposal to present was accepted, I have presented sessions at the Texas Council for the Social Studies, the National Council for Geographic Education, the College Board’s AP Annual Conference, and the National Council for the Social Studies. You can see my NCSS 2025 presentation “Engaging Psychology Students in the Science Practices Using Bite-Sized Research Briefs” here. I have been an AP Reader scoring AP Exams since 2017 and have held leadership positions at the Reading since 2021. I have also led professional development for teachers at the district level as its lead teacher in AP Human Geography and for the College Board in AP Human Geography and AP Psychology.

I’m especially interested in helping teachers make better use of the time they have with students by leveraging students’ curiosity, ability to make meaning during lessons, and desire to discuss and collaborate with peers ahead of simply delivering information and “covering” content. Teaching and learning should be fun! Can students learn content by listening to the teacher and copying notes? Sure! But how can teachers structure class time in a way that helps students both learn content and say, “Wait? It’s time to go already?”