Teaching Philosophy

Current Teaching (2022-Present)

Since 2022, I've taught at Leaves of Learning, a K-12 school in Cincinnati. My courses mix conversation with building stuff. I use games — D&D, Minecraft — as sneaky vehicles for systems thinking, and I weave in AI literacy because my students are going to live in a world full of it.

Additional courses: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Minecraft EDU, Take Apart Lab

Summer Programs

IT Management (2021-Present)

Alongside teaching, I manage school technology infrastructure—a role that informs my teaching by keeping me current with practical technology challenges.

• Alma SIS administration and Google Classroom integration
• Teacher professional development and technology training
• Student account lifecycle management (40+ new students/year)
• Network infrastructure (Meraki cameras, printer fleet)
• Registration system development (TypeScript/Angular, Nest.js, PostgreSQL)

Systems managed: Alma, Google Workspace, Meraki, FinalForms, Sawyer, Stripe

Core Principles

"My job is to make myself unnecessary."

Most tech education teaches people to follow tutorials. I want students who can improvise — who understand the principles well enough to figure out the next problem on their own, even when there isn't a YouTube video for it.

• If it's boring, it's not working
• Technology matters because students will live in a world shaped by it
• Hands-on beats theoretical every time
• The goal is students who can figure things out without me
• Curiosity is more important than compliance

Student Affirmation

"Truly, the most important thing a teacher can do is to affirm a student, let them know that they have value, that their ideas and thoughts have value."

— Rick Sowash influence

• Notice intelligence in all its forms
• Voice amazement at insights and capabilities
• Use gentle humor to make affirmation natural
• Understand that external affirmation shapes lives

Games as Educational Technology

"We want to put the world in order and we can't, puzzles provide a feeling of doing that"

D&D as Pedagogy

I run tabletop RPG campaigns as a teaching tool. The game master acts as a systems designer rather than a storyteller — creating conditions for meaningful stories to emerge from player choices. Player agency over narrative control, consequences over railroads, improvisation within structure. It reflects the same values as my installation work: designing constraints, establishing rules, then stepping back to let participants generate meaning through interaction.

Process Over Product

I emphasize the journey of creation over the final artifact. A "failed" project that taught valuable lessons is more successful than a polished piece that emerged from rote repetition. That takes the pressure off and lets students actually try weird stuff.

• Documenting process as rigorously as outcomes
• Celebrating productive failures and unexpected discoveries
• Iterative development over perfectionism
• Peer collaboration and knowledge sharing

Creative Autonomy

The goal is students who don't need me — who can identify problems, research solutions, and execute independently. That means stepping back, letting them struggle a bit, and not jumping in with answers the second things get hard.

Classroom Examples & Resources

These sample artifacts show how projects are structured in practice. They are lightweight templates intended for adaptation by other educators.

Workshops & Presentations

Conference Presentation

Workshops Conducted

Historical Courses (2022-2024)