Classrooms should be ecosystems of wonder and exploration.

For eleven wonderful years, I taught at a rural, Title-1 public school on the Big Island of Hawai'i. I taught AP students, ELL, Special Ed, inclusion, and everything in between and I absolutely loved it! Though teaching is always challenging, and while I barely survived my first couple of years, learning the right framework and routines to spark joy in learning totally transformed my life as a teacher.

I really see it as my job as a teacher to get students to see value in learning history, and to provide worthwhile challenges that they feel confident in struggling through.

But more than that, I hope to get them excited every time they enter my room.  I want my students to see history as an adventure where they are the captains and I'm helping them on their journey of discovery!

In 2020 I was named the Hawai’i State History Teacher of the Year by Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. But last year, I stepped out of the classroom to work on my history video curriculum, History For Humans, my podcast, History Teachers Club, and to create this online course for history teachers to transform their teaching. 

I saw so many teachers struggling and I wanted to do what I can to help them make a bigger difference in their classrooms and have more fun teaching!