Previous and Current Roles

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Graduate Teaching Fellow

2022 - 2024

Columbia University, Physics Department

Lead weekly three-hour laboratory sessions with 15 Engineering and Pre-Med undergraduate students.

Read and grade laboratory reports weekly. As an instructor of Physics Introductory Laboratories, I find myself in a unique position: on the one hand, this is a requirement for all engineering and pre-med students, therefore the department focuses a lot on creating standardized syllabus, policies, and expectations from students; on the other hand, I strive to create an inclusive learning environment for the students. Because of this tension, I decided to spend extra time in the beginning of every lab session going over the relevant pieces for students to succeed in the experiments: I assess their previous knowledge, adapt my short lesson plan to cover the main misconceptions and gaps they have, and proceed to model and demonstrate the best practices with the instruments. This method has proven very effective; students can still complete the lab within the allotted time, ask any clarifications, and feel more confident in their scientific writing.

You can read some of the feedback I have received during my time in the physics department here!

Full-Time STEM Teacher

2021 - 2022

Xaverian High School

Taught Computer-Aided Design and Robotics to 93 sixth graders, fostering creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Taught Regents and Honors Physics to 67 high school students. Designed and implemented hands-on experiments, projects, and demonstrations, enabling students to apply theoretical concepts and develop practical skills.

Coached the Science Olympiad team on Robotics and Physics for competitions in New York.

This was my first job out of college. Xaverian is a private 6-12 school in Brooklyn, NY. I taught an Engineering course to sixth grade, where in the Fall we focused on Design and Modeling and, in the Spring, on Automation and Robotics. This course was mainly hands-on group projects, which gave students a great channel to improve their creativity and social skills (especially after many hours sitting in lectures). I also taught two Physics classes, both focused on preparing students to take the New York State Regents Exam in June 2022. I had attempted to flip the classroom and implement other pedagogical strategies, such as no-homework and a regrade policy that allowed students to correct mistakes on quizzes and exams to retrieve up to 50% of lost points, to improve the students’ experience in STEM courses. However, I constantly battled the rigid requirements of the NYS Regents and, in February 2022, decided to return to the common lecture style to ensure we would cover all the material for the exam. This was especially as I myself struggled to find my high school content any interesting or engaging in Brazil, as all teachers had to focus on preparing us for the government-run university entrance exam.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

2019 - 2021

Columbia University, Mathematics Department

Hosted weekly recitations and office hours for Ordinary Differential Equations and Linear Algebra.

Graded and wrote homework solutions.

As an undergraduate at Columbia University, I worked as a Teaching Assistant for the Mathematics Department for three years. These two courses are designed for undergraduate students in Math, Physics, Computer Science, and Economics, so there was a variety of academic background and future applications of the class content. Each class ranged from 40 to 200 students. I graded problem sets and, for a couple semesters, I was responsible for writing and releasing homework solutions to students. I also held weekly office hours and recitations to address any questions students had about the course material.

Summer Teaching Fellow

2019

Breakthrough Collaborative, Bronx

Taught The House on Mango Street to 22 seventh graders in the Bronx.

Improved students’ scores by an average of 34% compared to their first literature assessment of the summer.

Organized an Open Mic event for the program, where students and staff performed, sang, did stand-up shows, and read poetry.

This was my first teaching experience outside of college. Breakthrough Collaborative is a not-for-profit organization that holds after-school classes and activities during the academic year; during the summer, they host an eight-week program to challenge students academically and ensure they are best prepared for high school and college applications. As a Teaching Fellow, I gained valuable skills in lesson planning, classroom management, and interactional practices with younger students.

Peer-to-Peer Tutor

Spring 2018

Barnard College, Physics Department

Tutored 15 Barnard students in Electricity and Magnetism.

Created weekly lesson plans.

Solved previous problem sets and exams with tutees.

Although only in my first year of college, I was hired to tutor two weekly hour-long sessions at Barnard for students taking an introductory Physics course in Electricity and Magnetism. This course was a requirement for all Physics and Astronomy students at Barnard.