Introduce yourself! What class[es] do you currently teach, how long have you been at ASIJ, and what do you like to do outside of school? 

This is my first year at ASIJ and I teach AP Seminar. Next year I will teach AP Seminar as well as Deep Learnin

When did you discover your love for English? Did you always love it?

I had a friend, Tim Hoekenga, who was part of a very intellectual family and whenever I slept over at his house we were made to read for 45 minutes before going to bed. I think I first started sleeping over at Tim’s in 4th grade and due to his love of reading and the daily requirement, he had burned through any young adult lit on offer and was fully into John Grisham, Michael Crichton and Clive Cussler. I reluctantly picked up one of these authors’ works—I think it was, The Pelican Brief  by Grisham—and was surprised at how quickly the parentally required time passed. I eventually would look forward to reading time before bed and as a middle schooler would go on to read almost everything those three authors had written.

What is your opinion on AI (Chat GPT)? How, if at all, do you incorporate it into your teaching?

I think AI has the potential to save or destroy the world and much will depend on the government regulation put in place around its use and distribution. I worry about its applications and its ability to potentially create massively larger income gaps than already exist in the world. 

I use it in my teaching as a research assistant. I think this is an appropriate application for an educational context. I am yet undecided as to whether or not AI should be allowed to “write” responses for students. Is the skill of writing something that we as a society are willing to offload to AI? Is offloading this skill a good idea? I don’t know the answers to those questions but I do think about them a lot. 

Which is your favorite English skill: Reading, Writing, or Speaking?

I thought I’d say reading, but as of late I do more writing than reading.

Please give a book recommendation and explain why students should read this book. 

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It’s a short and accessible work by a Nobel Prize winning author. It tells the story of the Buddha finding enlightenment and was the work of fiction that led me to pursue formal philosophy. That, or Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky because sometimes we all feel like everyone else sucks.

If you could teach a course based on your niche interest, what would it be?  

Health and Wellbeing. This course would focus on the cognitive and biological components of wellness via an examination of the latest research from the neuroscience, psychology and physiology spaces applied to our own lives through authentic project based learning. The outcome would be arming students with the skills and knowledge to be their best selves. 

What do you want students to take away from your classes? 

I want students to feel valued and cared for as individuals and learners. I want them to develop empathy and curiosity.