I am enrolled in the Secondary Education program at the George Mason University. I plan to finish my certification by Spring 2023, at which point I will be certified to teach Social Studies. Here are some highlights of my training:

- I did my student teaching at Robinson Secondary in Fairfax, teaching 8th- grade Civics & Economics and co-teaching 10th-grade Government. Due to technological issues, I developed my curriculum and assessments more or less from scratch.

+ For our unit on the Judicial Branch, I developed an assessment called 'Dude, Where's My Case'.

+ For the quiz on the Judicial branch, I had the students work in groups to create scenarios for a bad arrest and a lawyer who gives terrible advice: I used the best from each class in the quiz. This allowed me to very precisely calibrate my quiz to the content, and helped me see where we needed more teaching to ensure mastery.

+ I created a Peardeck lesson/formative assessment on microeconomics, focusing on cupcake economics.

+ I gradated the Economics unit test, per the rationale in this document (see below). Almost all students attempted the 'A'-level work, and the quality of their work was high. The cover sheet relates to a year-long simulation the class did with my mentor teacher.

- I developed a webquest about the Internet, also for World History II. (I adapted some of the webquest into a set of online assignments for Students Rule.)

- For World History II, I created a summative assessment I call "Delyrical", in which key ideas in units are juxtaposed in a rap battle. Students explain the significance of the lyrics with reference to unit content (sort of like the website Genius.com, but graded). Here is Luther vs. Leo X; Locke vs. Louis XIV; and Nixon vs. Krushchev.

- I completed field work at TC Williams HS (World History II, AP Gov., AP Econ.) and Hammond MS (U.S. History) in Alexandria, VA.

In addition to training through Mason, I taught five quarters of my civics curriculum, Students Rule, at HB-Woodlawn in Arlington, VA. The page for Students Rule has more information.

I also worked with students in the autism spectrum program at HB, on a volunteer basis, and tutored EL students at Arlington Community High School. I have taught English as a Second Language as a volunteeer. I have significant experience as a subsitute teacher in a range of classrooms, including special education.

I am writing an analysis of measurement issues in traditional grading, and propose a solution I call 'outcome gradation'. My approach helps address the built-in iniquity in our current grading system, and is more accurate for students and less work for teachers. The current version (PDF) is a draft; I welcome any feedback.