2025-2026

Before this year, my only experiences doing anything close to the teaching I did this year would be 5 years of teaching English conversation in Japan in the 80s and early 90s, and instructing coworkers and clients in the use of various systems or technologies. Throughout my career in tech, however, the dream that I'd had since childhood of teaching English and Literature never left me. When a downturn in tech jobs, and a spike in layoffs, left me out of work for a year, my family supported my decision to finally make that dream come true. This first year in two classrooms - as a student at HTH GSE, and as a resident at HTHPL - has been the best adventure of my life. I wake up every morning grateful to get to come in and help students become better equipped, more justice-minded versions of themselves.

Humanities/Ethnic Studies

I spent my first year in a classroom at High Tech High Point Loma, in a 9th grade classroom in "the fishbowl." Fall semester, I was a student teacher learning from Chet Flaum, and we covered food from a multitude of viewpoints, all in the attempt to answer the questions, "who really decides what we eat?" Spring semester, Chet moved to 10th grade, and I worked with Juli Ruff, and the team project had to do with the idea of journeys: why we take them, why they are so often formative, and what we do to survive them. This was a year of drinking from the firehose for me, though joyfully.

Japanese Language & Culture

Activities

Crafts

Field Trips

This school year there was a need for one more Intersession class, and I took that opportunity to work on my new skills by teaching old ones. I spent 5 years in Japan, and then 5 more in the US as a technical translator. I knew that many students had strong interest in Japan and its culture - especially anime - so I used that fascination to cover selections of language and lifestyle. We dipped our toes into writing Japanese via the hiragana lettering system, watched and discussed decades of anime, did physics puzzles from NHK children's shows, wrote haiku, carved hanko (name stamps) and small block prints, painted Daruma (and learned the story of his legless resilience), braided kumihimo, ate Japanese food (including a watermelon divvied up the traditional way), went on 3 field trips (the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, an anniversary showing of Kiki's Delivery Service at the Digital Gym, and shopping at various Japanese stores in Kearny Mesa), and had an amazing exhibition set up entirely by the students while I was out taking an exam! It was a fun and enlightening immersive two weeks, and I loved every minute with every student.

Year One.mov

Digital Portfolio gallery:

The best way to see what we helped the students achieve is to take a look at their digital portfolios:

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