Pedagogy & Praxis

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy centers on the belief that learning is fundamentally an act of liberation—a process where students become architects of their own knowledge rather than passive recipients of predetermined truths. Drawing from my research in Youth Participatory Action Research and critical pedagogy, I view the classroom as a space where students' lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and questions become the curriculum itself.

Mathematics, often presented as objective and immutable, is actually a deeply human endeavor filled with creativity, pattern-seeking, and storytelling. My role as an educator is to dismantle the hierarchical structures that position me as the sole expert and instead cultivate communities where students theorize from their own contexts, challenge dominant narratives, and use mathematical thinking as a tool for understanding and transforming their worlds. Technology serves not as a replacement for human connection but as a democratizing force that can amplify student voices and provide access to new ways of seeing—though I remain critically aware that technology access itself is an equity issue requiring constant attention.

Praxis in Action

In practice, this philosophy manifests through relationship-building, adaptive curriculum design, and a commitment to saying "I don't know" as an invitation rather than a failure. I create learning environments where confusion is honored as the starting point for exploration, where students see themselves reflected in the content, and where assessment focuses on growth rather than gatekeeping.

Whether teaching secondary algebra, university database systems, or mentoring future educators, I prioritize helping learners develop not just technical skills but critical consciousness—the ability to recognize how knowledge is constructed, who benefits from particular narratives, and how they might use their learning to create more equitable futures. My years as a math teacher taught me that students disengage not because they lack ability, but because traditional education too often denies their humanity; my work now, in both data analysis and doctoral research, focuses on dismantling those dehumanizing structures one classroom, one question, one student story at a time.