Teaching

I use a student-led, active-learning based teaching model. In all of my classes from beginner to advanced topics, I ask my students to use scientific reasoning and engage with data directly, then collaboratively construct theory around the data. Most of my classes are mixed seminar/lecture format, and I generally ask students to conduct original research within the scope of the class to support their learning.

Classes I’ve Taught

Course materials available on by request.

  • Introduction to Linguistic Thought
    • An overview of linguistic theory and subfields, covering phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, neurolinguistics, and sociolinguistics.
    • Taught at UW and Swarthmore
  • Language and Society
    • An introduction to sociolinguistics with a focus on American dialects, and covering variation based on age, ethnicity, region, gender, socioeconomic class, and other sociological variables.
    • Taught at UW
  • Fundamentals of Grammar
    • A survey of the grammar of English through a descriptivist lens, focusing on using syntactic tests to find generalizations and patterns across parts of speech and phrases.
    • I recently revised the curriculum of this course; it now focuses on the grammar of any language of students’ interests, not just English, and covers the syntax, phonology, morphology, and sociolinguistic fields.
    • Taught at UW
  • Sociolinguistics
    • An introduction to sociolinguistics covering the Variationist framework, interactional, and sociocultural linguistics, and examining relationships between language and gender, socioeconomic status, geographic location, race, ethnicity, and age.
    • Taught at Swarthmore.
  • Syntax 1
    • An introduction to generative syntax using X Bar Theory.
    • Taught at UW and Swarthmore
  • Syntax 2
    • Advanced undergraduate syntax topics in Principles and Parameters framework, including A and A-Bar movement, case theory, and other topics.
    • Taught at UW and Swarthmore
  • Language and Gender
    • Generative linguistic, sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropology approaches to gender, including how gender roles impact language use and how gender gets encoded in language.
    • Developed and taught course at UW and Swarthmore
  • Sociosyntax of Gender
    • Advanced graduate seminar examining sociolinguistic and morphosyntactic reflexes of gender marking in grammar. Interdisciplinary course, aimed at questions about how gender is encoded in grammar in several ways: 1) how are gendered pronouns determined, grammatically constrained, and constructed in the syntax? 2.) How does gender morphology interact with social gendered practice and presentation, especially when conflicts arise between social and grammatical genders? 3.) How do speakers negotiate and utilize gender marking in sociopragmatic contexts?
    • Developed and taught at UW

Theses I’ve supervised