Teaching Philosophy

I believe that my role as a teacher is to facilitate student learning by providing opportunities to actively engage with the course material. My goal for my students is a better understanding of and intuition about the physical principles that underlie how the universe works.

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Teaching Experience

I was the instructor for the major-level Observational Astronomy class (ASTR 3130) in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia in Fall 2011. I redesigned the syllabus for this class during the Teaching Research Center's fabulous Course Design Institute to more accurately reflect my long-term goals for student learning. A copy of my syllabus and timeline (slightly outdated) for the course are online. I incorporate the best practices for increasing student learning into the class including reading quizzes, discussion, and in-class activities.

I was the teaching assistant for ASTR 100 (a one semester introductory astronomy course) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Fall of 2003. If you're interested, check out the website I developed for my sections. I've also been a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate astronomy classes at University of Virginia and have tutored throughout high school, undergraduate, and graduate school.