Jessica is an award winning high school educator with 11 years experience of teaching English and reading in the Chicagoland area. The Starz’s 10 part documentary series America to Me features her teaching and commitment to antiracist teaching. She teaches in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), and she has experiences teaching undergraduates, masters students, and doctoral students at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Graduate School of Education at Stanford.

High School English Teaching

Fulbright

Teacher Education

Testimonial

“Having Jess as my instructor during my teacher preparation was an extraordinarily invaluable experience. She takes big tasks and big ideas and breaks them down in tangible, clear, and lasting ways. When I would do a demo lesson, her feedback was clear and productive, which gave me a clear path forward: I knew what I had to work on and because of that I became a more reflective teacher.

Through her instruction, I also learned the crucial value of community building as a classroom management strategy with students. I learned that without community building it is difficult to lower the affective filter that might prevent students from taking academic risks necessary for their learning. Her anecdotes about her own classroom teaching experience were always specific and relevant, therefore always providing us with helpful tips to create a more loving and nurturing classroom. Most importantly, she models the reflectiveness, insight, and kindness that make the best teachers who they are. I genuinely accredit Jess for so much of my ability to lesson/unit plan as a teacher. I can’t speak highly enough about the impact she’s had on me as a teacher!”

–Fatema, Stanford Teacher Education Program 2020

Teaching Experience

Instructor of Record
English Curriculum and Instruction Stanford Teacher Education Program	Winter 2019, 2020, 2021
Student and Community Organizing for Social Change Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity	Spring 2019, 2020
America to Me: Race and Equity in U.S. Public Schools Stanford Graduate School of Education	Spring 2019
Teaching Assistant
Doctoral Seminar in Curriculum Research Stanford Graduate School of Education	Fall 2022
English Curriculum and Instruction Stanford Teacher Education Program	Fall 2018, Summer 2020
Race, Ethnicity and Linguistics Diversity in Classrooms & Communities: Sociocultural Theory & Practices Stanford Graduate School of Education	Fall 2019
Secondary English and Reading teacher
Oak Park and River Forest High School	2007-2019