Teaching Biography

Though I have been teaching in one iteration or another since 2004, the chaos of the last few years has provided innumerable ways that I can contribute to society through education. Whether it is the anti-science movement or the misinformation about how the government and voting actually works, a well-informed and energetic social science teacher can be formative for students. We provide students with the tools and guidance to process mountains of information and make informed decisions as life-long learners and citizens.

History is the telling of stories in its most basic form and I love sharing the tapestry of stories and experiences of people around the world. Just as importantly, I enjoy the world of middle school for both its developmental growth and the wild creativity of their youthfulness. As my students and colleagues have witnessed, I approach the classroom as a microcosm of the larger world where everything is an experiment of observation, hypothesis, research, and evaluation. I am also fond of playing devil’s advocate to get students to think about the underlying assumptions and supports for any claim they make about the social world. Rather than focusing on names and dates, I focus students on the process of history and how it can provide them real-world power in their lives.

Now that I am finishing my teaching credential, I hope to continue putting down roots in the Oakland area. My current school is a blessing of amazing administrators, colleagues, and students. I would like to experience the one thing I have yet to as a teacher: multiple years teaching the same subject at the same school where I can perfect my materials, lessons, and community connections. I have so many big goals, like a school-based Local History Collection Program, teaching ArcGIS software skills, and developing a guest speaker rooster within the myriad of cultural communities in Oakland.

I look forward to seeing you out there and if you have any stories you would like to share about Oakland, California, the US, or Indigenous people’s history please let me know. My students would be honored to host you at Montera Middle School in the near future.

Teaching Resources

This will house materials I developed for teaching various subjects including worksheets, visual aids, presentations, videos and weblinks to other additional resources. Over the last decade of teaching I have developed materials for use in the classroom and in other educational settings. I gave provided a sample of these images, maps, presentation slides and videos. Most of these materials are focused in Social Studies but there are smaller sections for English and Miscellaneous materials as well. These materials are free for educational use and if you have any questions (or commissions) please contact me. Coming Soon....
Click here if you are looking for my Teaching Portfolio/Experience

Teaching Experiences

Koori Art and Music Presentations for Kanawha Co. Public Schools, Spring-Fall 2014

Much like the Koori Camp, I present geo-spatial concepts (i.e. space vs. place) developed for elementary, middle and high school students. I also discuss using historicizing and myth creation thorugh the use of a painting I created to describe a mythological and real landscape from a commute to work, seen below.

GHA, July 2013

"From Ike to Nixon" was the theme of this three week long academic and college-prep summer camp for high school seniors, the best and the brightest of the state. Below are the course descriptions of the two courses I presented in July 2013.

Blood on Alcatraz: Red Power and the American Indian Civil Rights Movement

This course will examine three general periods in the American Indian Civil Rights Movement. Starting in 1950, the Termination period was devastating to the political power that had been fostered during the Collier-New Deal Era of the previous fifteen years. The ending of Federal recognition though did increase the visibility of Indians throughout the US as many moved off the rez and into the cities. The animosity of an entire generation of Indians boiled over in the next period, the Counter-Cultural movements of the Sixties. From the co-opting of Indian traditions by Hippies to the diverse organization of political activists, Indians were ever present within the social chaos of this period. The anxieties and activisms of the Sixties reached a fevered pitch at the dawn of the Seventies with the standoffs at Alcatraz and then Wounded Knee. The Red Power period was a period of violence at home and abroad as urban riots and Viet Nam engulfed the US. Indian communities were extremely diverse and divided in ways that we can still see today. The students will examine each of the major events of this period through readings, discussions, and guest lectures from local Indians with firsthand knowledge of the period.

Bloodthirsty Indian Zombies in Space: Native Americans in Sci-Fi and Horror Film

Students will view a series of movies within the Sci-fi and Horror genres that incorporate American Indians into their plots. During the mid-Twentieth century, both genres used Indian characters as plot devices. Often these Indian characters were cast in the noble sage-bloodthirsty savage dichotomy. Viewed as expressions of race relations during the Civil Rights era, students will see the changes in and perpetuation of Indian stereotypes from 1950 till the present. After identifying the problems in the selected six films, students will discuss the larger social repercussions of these representations in the public consciousness of American Indians.

GHA, July 2012

"Between the World Wars" was the theme of this three week long academic and college-prep summer camp for high school seniors, the best and the brightest of the state. Below are the course descriptions of the two courses I presented in July 2012.

Native Americans between the World Wars

After the major changes in Federal Indian policies during the late nineteenth century, namely the Dawes Allotment Act, Indians were faced with new and delicate political and social complications. This setup even more sweeping changes for Native peoples following the Great War. This class follows the diverse Indian peoples in four geographic regions (Eastern cities, Southern mountains, Western plains, and the Pacific coast) through the aftermath of WWI, the “Roaring” Twenties, the Great Depression, and the Indian New Deal in the 1930s. You will view the time period from a new perspective, through the cultural persistence and influence of Indian peoples during the early Twentieth century.

Indian Military Service during the World Wars

Native Americans have fought in every US conflict since before the nation even existed. In recent years, with movies like Windtalkers (2002), interest in Indian service in the US military has grown dramatically. This class broadens out the focus to both WWI and WWII encompassing dramatic changes in the ability of Indians to practice cultural traditions and ceremonies. This class uses selections of Diane Camurat’s The American Indian in the Great War: Real and Imagined and Thomas Britten’s American Indians in World War I: At War and At Home. This will be compared in detail with primary documents and You Tube interviews with WWII veterans.