Teaching
Pedagogy
My pedagogical approach is grounded in disability justice, alongside the work of femme scholars of color such as Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Karen L. Suyemoto, and Audre Lorde. Drawing on their insights, I teach relationally and in community with my students; during the first class of the semester in each of my courses, I name how Western models stigmatize emotion in the classroom and define teaching through hierarchical control, rather than collective meaning-making. To counter this, I approach the classroom as a space of mutual translation, where knowledge is built through collaborative processes that allow for vulnerability, and for intellectual risk-taking that allows students to stumble as they grow. I draw from transformative justice scholarship oand consent educators/organizers in this work, and scaffold structures in place throughout the semetser to address if/when hurt or harm occurs in the classroom. As an educator, I feel that it is one of my primary jobs to ensure my students have as much power and agency over their learning as I can give them. In this way, I believe in the transformative potential of the classroom as a relational space; one that understands community-building and co-creation as necessary tools to foster generative, liberatory sites of learning
Courses Taught
MSW Course, New York University, Silver School of Social Work, 2027
Instructor and Course Developer. This course supports students in developing thoughtful, grounded approaches to practice across micro and macro settings with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender expansive, and queer (LGBTQ) communities. With attention to critical intersectional analysis, students will examine the histories of how sexual and gender identities have been constructed, how they are regulated, and how they continue to be lived today – alongside how these realities shape client experiences, therapeutic relationships, and broader systems of care. Drawing from sociopolitical and decolonial frameworks, this course invites students to critically reflect on their own positionalities and to engage in practices attuned to both structural harm and collective strategies of endurance and care. Attention is given to the impacts of systemic violence and marginalization, including minority stress, alongside possibilities for joy and solidarity. Resilience among marginalized communities will additionally be explored as a contested concept, with attention not only to how it can obscure structural violence, but also to what it means to affirm survival in clinical work with care and accountability to the communities we aim to support.
Undergraduate course, New York University, Silver School of Social Work; open to all NYU Students, 2026
Taught Fall 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Instructor & Course Developer (rebuilt course from inherited 2023 syllabus). This course examines the practice of love and relationships through a critical social work lens, emphasizing how intimacy, care work, and connection are shaped by structural power. Drawing on Black feminist thought, disability justice scholarship, and related critical frameworks, students analyze both dominant and counter-hegemonic narratives of love and relationships while exploring liberatory approaches to belonging. Course discussions and assignments are grounded in social work’s ethical commitments to relational practice, social justice, and the promotion of individual and collective well-being across practice contexts.
Undergraduate course, New York University, Silver School of Social Work; open to all NYU students across schools, 2024
Instructor. The purpose of this course is to explore and better understand, from a social work perspective, what behaviors, identities, practices, and experiences are categorized as socially deviant and taboo in society. Students utilize a diverse range of theories on deviance to collectively examine how social deviance and taboos are defined, determined, and socially/historically constructed. Emphasis is placed on how deviance has historically been used as a tool to systemically mark certain groups as “other,” denying them access to power, resources, and full social belonging.
Select Guest Lectures
Research Methods II (MSW), New York University Silver School of Social Work, 2026
Full Course Description: Building on the foundation skills of the first research course, the objective of this course is to apply research concepts and principles to the actual conduct of studies addressing questions relevant to direct practice with individuals, families, and groups. The course prepares students for active roles in practice and program evaluation. An introduction to the use of computers in statistical analysis is included. Course Instructor: Lucy Prout, MCJ.
