Teaching
"Jenny did not just stand up and lecture. She taught the material in a very interesting way and was great at engaging class participation through different types of activities. Also through her writing workshops she set you up to do very well on the writing assignments, which were on interesting topics."
I currently teach courses related to Latino immigration for Southern Methodist University's Department of Anthropology. Previously, I was an instructor for the Department of Anthropology and El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at the University of Connecticut.
My courses consistently produce two important learning outcomes in students:
1) the capacity to critically examine power and privilege in students’ daily lives and in historical and contemporary contexts, and
2) intellectual reflection upon students’ positionality within U.S. and global society.
I provide students with the information and tools needed to accomplish these outcomes, but provide them “room” - through creative, reflective assignments - to put the tools into practice. In each course I teach, I use scaffolding techniques to advance students progressively toward a deeper understanding of course concepts.
In my introductory anthropology course, “Other People’s Worlds,” students use anthropological approaches to understand human societies – particularly their own. The course also equips students with the tools to analyze power in diverse cultural contexts. In January of 2016, I received a commendation from UConn’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs for receiving the highest possible median score in all categories of student evaluations of this course.
In “Latin@s in the United States" students learn to analyze, interpret, and challenge homogenizing narratives about Latina/o populations. This course utilizes an interdisciplinary, multi-media, transnational perspective to examine such topics as: the diverse histories of different Latin@ im/migrant groups, the construction of Latin@ identity, the intersection of race, class, and gender in Latin@ experiences, and Latin@ art and activism.
At the end of each semester, regardless of where they begin, students leave my classroom not only with a new way of seeing themselves and others in the world, but also with the critical analytical capacity to be engaged, active global citizens who can examine and question power and privilege.
In the future, I am interested in developing and teaching courses in a variety of subject areas, including (but not limited to) the following: virtual ethnography and ethnography in/of the internet; gender and migration; the social life of immigration policy; anthropology of contemporary Mexico and/or Latin America; global/transnational anthropology; ethnographic methods; applied/engaged anthropology; medical anthropology; migration and health.
My courses consistently produce two important learning outcomes in students:
1) the capacity to critically examine power and privilege in students’ daily lives and in historical and contemporary contexts, and
2) intellectual reflection upon students’ positionality within U.S. and global society.
I provide students with the information and tools needed to accomplish these outcomes, but provide them “room” - through creative, reflective assignments - to put the tools into practice. In each course I teach, I use scaffolding techniques to advance students progressively toward a deeper understanding of course concepts.
In my introductory anthropology course, “Other People’s Worlds,” students use anthropological approaches to understand human societies – particularly their own. The course also equips students with the tools to analyze power in diverse cultural contexts. In January of 2016, I received a commendation from UConn’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs for receiving the highest possible median score in all categories of student evaluations of this course.
In “Latin@s in the United States" students learn to analyze, interpret, and challenge homogenizing narratives about Latina/o populations. This course utilizes an interdisciplinary, multi-media, transnational perspective to examine such topics as: the diverse histories of different Latin@ im/migrant groups, the construction of Latin@ identity, the intersection of race, class, and gender in Latin@ experiences, and Latin@ art and activism.
At the end of each semester, regardless of where they begin, students leave my classroom not only with a new way of seeing themselves and others in the world, but also with the critical analytical capacity to be engaged, active global citizens who can examine and question power and privilege.
In the future, I am interested in developing and teaching courses in a variety of subject areas, including (but not limited to) the following: virtual ethnography and ethnography in/of the internet; gender and migration; the social life of immigration policy; anthropology of contemporary Mexico and/or Latin America; global/transnational anthropology; ethnographic methods; applied/engaged anthropology; medical anthropology; migration and health.
