Communications

• Social Change: Desire and Design (Spring 2010 – Evergreen State College)

Social Change (Spring 2010) was the title of a course I co-facilitated at the Evergreen State College during Spring 2010, with three other teachers visiting from the School for Designing a Society in Urbana, Illinois. I made this website to share readings and follow-up on classroom discussions. The course offered a condensed version of the curriculum of the School for Designing a Society: desire, design, and composition.

Education

• EPS 410: Philosophy of Education (Spring 2013 – U of I)

Senior level study of theories of education, with emphasis on twentieth century influences on the philosophy of education in the United States. Classroom meetings for Philosophy of Education will be facilitated using distinct techniques from week-to-week, which align with and diverge from concepts in the readings. Each philosophical exposition is presented through the readings, lectures, and discussions and then countered by rebuttals, alternative proposals, or even slander. The aim of this format is to provoke un-attached thinking about educational philosophies.

• Politics of Education Reading Group (Spring 2011)

Rather than assume a goal-oriented approach, with it’s attenuating list of “objectives” and “outcomes,” this course took a heuristic approach, such that the group’s aims were open to change in the process of proceeding through the readings. The selected texts aimed to highlight intersections between education policy and other disciplines including economics, politics, linguistics, art, information theory, gender studies, biology, and media studies.

One outcome of the group was a group-written analysis of education reporting in the New York Times, in a paper that was presented at a conference for graduate students on campus.

• EPS 395: Political and Historical Perspectives on Education (Fall 2009 – U of I)

From the syllabus: This course is a split study of the major theoretical concerns regarding the practice of education, and an overview of the historical development of the US Education System in particular. On the theoretical side, the course will engage some of the major works of John Dewey and Paolo Freire, arguably the two most important voices for progressive education in the 20th century. On the historical side, the course will engage US Educational History texts which attempt to incorporate the many voices and stories that affected the development of the school system. The aim of the course will be to develop a fluency in the major concepts of contemporary education theory, as well as a sense of their application in the historical contexts in which they arose in the United States. Course grade will be determined on the basis of preparation, participation, a research paper, and presentation of this work.

Environmental Science

• Introduction to Soils (2011-12 – DACC)

This is a 100-level undergraduate course which introduces the basics of soil science, with an emphasis on environmental chemistry, soil organic matter, and practical applications of soil science basics.

Horticulture

• Introduction to Horticulture (2011-12 – DACC)

This is a 100-level undergraduate course which introduces the scope of topics covered in the field of Horticulture, with an emphasis on non-mainstream systems of production including Permaculture and Biointensive Mini-Farming.