Teaching

I’ve had the joy of working with students of all ages in formal, informal, and professional contexts for over a decade. Teaching to me is always a fascinating process of learning; getting to know each individual and orienting content and strategies for their way of being in the world never fails to deepen and widen my own relationship to content. I see the classroom as a collaborative space of exploration, questioning, reflection, practice, and making connections with lived experience. This space fulfills its potential best when students are given agency and options to engage with concepts and one another. 

Student comments

“Sofia is empathetic, incisive, and chock-full of incredible targeted references and ideas. […] her comments and reflections speak directly to the heart of the matter.”

“Exceptional syllabus and course structure, with up–to–the minute readings, guest visitors, and authentic assignments. The material was scaffolded beautifully, with ideas building on one another throughout the semester.”

“The course brought into dialogue a number of disciplines that are usually separate in scientific discourse. It encouraged me to think deeply about how these disciplines and perspectives might be fruitfully integrated, so as to provide a more complete understanding of learning phenomena and human development.”

“Getting specific, thoughtful responses to my ideas and writing was critical to my development as an emerging scholar. I felt like I was taken seriously, and it made me want to do new, good work.” 

“The instructor’s teaching style by providing activities that are related to the reading is the best!”

“Passionate and knowledgeable about the content.”

“Huge exposure to lots of really fascinating research being done on embodied cognition across the field. All the reading felt relevant, nothing felt like busy work.” 

“Her reframing of students’ questions make the students themselves sound smarter — a very generous way of being in the classroom.”

“Great choice of papers/readings/content, amazing lectures that really brought attention to critical thinking around education. Presented unique activities that really shifted my view on how we learn.”

graduate course in COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

“We connected a lot of concepts both to each other and to aspects of everyday life, which helped me internalize them and understand them beyond just an academic context.”

“Being more involved in learning, rather than just taking notes, reinforced the things I knew and made me aware of some of the things that I didn’t.”

“Sofia was always enthusiastic and encouraging. She made the section enjoyable and fun to attend.”

“I think Sofia was really open to hearing different points of view and working them into the class material.”

Undergraduate course in cognitive science

“Most useful lesson planning training I’ve received to date.”

“Specific and thoughtful work around how we can better engage with students.”

“It was helpful when we had the group break out into small units to practice scenarios.”

“It’s been targeted, proactive and responsive.”

Instructor Professional Development

“ A great mentor and also a person that we as scholars could trust.”

“As my writing mentor, she pushed me to challenge myself and improve my writing in ways I couldn’t have done on my own. Her support, advice, and loving smile made me feel like I could accomplish anything.”

“Sophomore year was a huge leap for me since a lot of things in my school changed and I was feeling overwhelmed with the addition of two classes, change of subjects, time management, and so on. Sofia was able to give me some advice and help me out with anything I was struggling with.”

High school MENTORING

Teaching Contexts