Need to teach a class or train a team? I approach curriculum creation with the goal of infecting others with my enthusiasm for learning through surprising analogies, unexpected connections and hands-on exploration. I enjoy creating experiences for audiences of all ages and find my springboards for new material in everything from current events and technology to board games and graphic design.
My educational content has been officially endorsed by the National Council for Social Studies and honored by the American Association of School Librarians, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
“I love the E.S.C.A.P.E. poster and the one about whether or not to share a news story. I can picture me and my students routinely referring back to those criteria as we discuss sources throughout the year. We would previously discuss similar things, but I think this nifty acronym will help with students memorize good practices that they will, hopefully, use throughout their adult lives.”
Newseum Summer Teacher Institute participant
Media Literacy Poster Series
- I devised this trio of posters — Is This Story Share-Worthy?, E.S.C.A.P.E. Junk News and Weed Out Propaganda — to create accessible, memorable ways to tackle one of today’s greatest challenges: finding reliable, quality content online. Created in collaboration with a talented graphic designer, they pack a visual punch. They have formed the basis for multiple social media campaigns, workshops and spin-off lesson plans for both adults and youth and have been translated into multiple languages.
Fact Finder
- I designed this introduction to navigating today’s onslaught of information to adapt to classrooms, community centers and individual online learning. To support the eight skill-building lesson plans, we created original infographics, explainer videos and expert interview videos that can also function independently to broaden the reach of the content.
- Applied Educational Systems called it “a treasure trove of resources” that “isn’t just about journalism — it’s about information as a whole.”
Free Speech Essentials and Freedom in the Balance
- This pair of curriculum collections breaks down the foundations of our First Amendment freedoms and illustrates why they so frequently spark controversy using real-life case studies. Lesson plans guide students through the essential skills required to analyze primary source evidence and engage in productive debate of even provocative or controversial topics.
Civil Rights and Women’s Suffrage Timelines
- I coordinated the development of these content-rich online timelines, which feature hundreds of artifacts, photographs and periodicals alongside original analysis of historical events. Each brings a fresh perspective to a well-trodden topic by exploring how the First Amendment powered these movements for social change. Accompanying lesson plans leverage the timeline content to deepen understanding and analysis of the past and build connections to current events.
“Newseum makes [its online] resources relevant to students [by] framing them around current issues and real world connections. I’m absolutely blown away by the lesson plans. I can’t wait to get back to school and see these in action!”
Middle school librarian, Hershey, Pa.