Current Students

Having lived in Texas most of her life, Michele Benage picked up and moved to New York City in 2010 to serve as an AmeriCorps member at City Year New York. While serving the South Bronx community, she grew passionate about fulfilling an impactful career in public education. After City Year, she graduated from Texas State University with a B.A. in English. For the last five years, she has taught nearly all grade levels of English at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, and currently teaches an incredible group of seniors there. She draws most of her inspiration for her work in her classroom from leading educators of the National Writing Project and the National Council of Teachers of English.

When she’s not teaching during the school year, Michele likes to experience live music, read just about any fiction she can get her hands on, and take her dog, Clarence, out for hikes in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. During the summer, she’s taking classes with her InSTEP cohort, dreaming up new possibilities for the field of English Education with perhaps too much fervor, getting lost in rabbit holes typically triggered by the ideas of James Moffett, and exploring the bewitching city of New York.

Sapna Chemplavil has spent the past six years working in the education sector. She served two years as an Americorps member with the education nonprofit City Year San Jose / Silicon Valley, working with 6th-8th graders her first year and leading the site’s leadership development and post-service programming for Americorps members in her second year. Sapna then worked with Galileo Innovation Camps teaching 3rd-8th grade science. From there, she joined the workforce development nonprofit Year Up Bay Area, working on training and programming. She finally made the jump to traditional classroom teaching by completing a teacher residency year in southeast Washington, DC. There, she earned initial certification in both Secondary English Education and Special Education. She has spent the past two years teaching 9th grade English in east Oakland, CA. Sapna earned her BA in English and psychology from Dartmouth College and has completed graduate coursework in education through Lesley University. This year she is an Abby M. O’Neill fellow. In her spare time, Sapna enjoys dancing, indoor bouldering, and (of course!) reading and writing. She is interested in creating equitable spaces that empower students to find their voices and engage with the world in socially and politically productive ways.

Jillian Hand grew up on Long Island and graduated from University at Buffalo in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in English and a dual minor in both Education and Counseling. While at UB she worked at the writing center as a writing consultant and studied British Literature in London for a summer. She's excited to continue her education at Teachers College and hopes to grow as a both an educator and a person. When she's not writing or reading, she's probably watching One Tree Hill, hiking, or at a country concert.

Before arriving to Teachers College, Kyle graduated from Washington College in 2017 with a major in English and minor in Secondary Education. Since 2012, Kyle has interned and taught in special education, elementary, middle, and high school environments. Specifically, Kyle has an extensive background in teaching theater, which he has done for many summers. Kyle taught sophomore English at The Gunston School in Maryland for a year, became TEFL certified, and then decided to make the move to NYC to pursue a master's program in English Education. As a Student Ambassador of Teachers College, Kyle enjoys meeting new people and being surrounded by like-minded individuals. His interests in education include differentiation for all learners and sparking student interest in plays and Shakespeare.

High school teacher at a public school in New Jersey for 20 years. Decided it's never too late to move to the city you love and get a graduate degree in the university you always wanted to attend.

Lora is from Great Neck, Long Island, and graduated from CUNY Brooklyn College / Macaulay Honors College in 2018 with a B.A. in Linguistics & English, and a minor in Sociology. She completed her undergraduate senior thesis on family relationships in Dickens and her senior capstone project on wh-movement in Croatian. She has worked with first & second graders and college underclassmen, and is currently student teaching as part of pursuing an M.A. in Teaching of English with initial certification. She enjoys reading poetry on the LIRR and taking long walks through parks.

Hello! My name is Brie Rosa. In this photo I’m in an art gallery in South Korea, where I taught for 4 years in a “hagwon,” or a private English academy. Though I taught Pre-K through 8th grade, I’m now working towards my Masters in Adolescent English Education so that I can become a high school English teacher here in NYC, where I was born and raised. This is a dream I’ve had on my back burner since my AP Lit teacher changed my relationship with literature forever, and TC is helping me to achieve it! Annyeong!

Sahar Soleimany graduated from Queens College, City University of New York with a B.A. in English Education 7-12 in 2018. As the eldest daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants, her family history and ethnic upbringing has informed her disciplinary interests in diasporic narratives, critical literacy, and culturally relevant pedagogies. While an undergraduate student, she developed an ethnographic research study on Cyphers for Justice, a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) after-school program within the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at Teachers College, Columbia University, which apprentices inner-city high school youth as critical researchers of social and educational injustices plaguing their communities. Her research evaluated the potential benefits of using YPAR as an alternative to traditional classroom pedagogy by examining youth-to-youth and youth-to-adult relations within the program, as well as the role YPAR plays in building critical consciousness and cultural competency in students. As an M.A. student in the English Education program at Teachers College, Sahar hopes to continue her commitment to multicultural education by exploring the effects of integrating postcolonial and transnational literature in classrooms on student identity and positionality.

I am from Bismarck, North Dakota, where I grew up and lived all my life up until this point. Just prior to this, I had been a high-school English teacher there at St. Mary's Central High School where I taught AP English to juniors and seniors, in addition to being the drama director, yearbook advisor, and newspaper advisor. I loved my experience as a teacher there immensely, but after seven years of doing that, I was ready to try something new and seek my MA here at TC in New York City! Despite being from a smaller community in one of the more rural regions of the country, I still feel comfortable in the big city thanks to my past traveling experiences, which include traveling through Europe, a solo road trip down the West Coast, and a month-long stay in D.C. studying Shakespeare at the Folger Library. At the same time, I also spend a lot of time outdoors, doing things like camping with family in the mountains of Montana, or hiking through the Badlands of ND. My hobbies outside of teaching include playing piano and guitar, reading (any genre), drawing, video games, reality TV, and volleyball.

Thagrith Taki Wachiredetsakul earned his BA with an emphasis on Cultural studies and Critical Theories from Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. With his endeavor in English and Comparative Literature, Taki has written many articles with an intention to use critical theories as a frame to dig deeper into literary works from multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds. While in his undergraduate program, Taki took several modern language classes, for instance, Korean, Spanish (as his minor, with an emphasis on Latin American Literature), Italian, and French (his favorite molders language as he received Le Bac from LLG). Here at Columbia University, he goes to classes with an intention to make ELA and English Literature accessible for ESL and EFL students. Taki worked as a research assistant at the Department of English Studies, The University of Tokyo to come up with a general and practical method to integrate English Literature and Literary Studies in EFL classroom.

This upcoming year Taki and his dad will be founding a specific language school where the teaching of language and literature are attempted to be conducted under the very same EFL course. This is very challenging for him since this particular type of private school is scarce in the East and South East Asian countries. Language is not merely a tool for communication for, but also a linguistic and cultural platform where students can understand themselves better and learn more about the other’s ways of thinking.

Eve Becker has taught middle school English since 2001. She came to teaching after a first career as a writer and editor in both print and digital publishing. She is the author of over thirty published novels for young readers, and numerous stories and essays for adults. In 2012, she was awarded a Pushcart Prize for her personal essay, "Final Concert." She is the founder and director of Leaf and Pen, an organization that runs writing retreats and workshops for educators.

Eve's professional interests include building writer identity in both students and teachers, adolescent literacy, equity through literature and teacher education. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1980. She is a native New Yorker, parent, traveler and dreamer.

It is through active learning that is both personal and shared, that we become empathetic, responsible, and connected, that we find pleasure in intellectual challenge, and that we become vital members of our world.

David Baksh is a Ph.D. student in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to this, he earned an M.A. in Teaching of English also at Teachers College, and a B.A. in Secondary English Education at The City College of New York. David has served in various educational roles, including teaching high school English and supervising student teachers of English in New York City. He has shared his work at venues including the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Teachers College, and Michigan State University. In addition to being a Ph.D. student, David is also a Zankel Fellow at the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers (CPET). His interests and experiences include student publication, student responses to pedagogical approaches, and teacher (co)education.

Stephanie Gomes graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2007 with a B.A. in English and in Sociology. Following graduation, she took a year off from school to volunteer in Baltimore (Sowebo) through the Bon Secours Volunteer Ministry. She worked at a Family Support Center providing early childhood education to children under the age of four and GED preparation to their parents. She returned to school to pursue her M.A. from Rutgers University, Newark in English Literature and wrote her thesis on the postcolonial symbolism of incest in Salman Rushdie’s "Midnight’s Children" and John Banville’s "Birchwood".

Master’s completed, Stephanie began adjuncting at Raritan Valley Community College, teaching English Composition and Developmental Reading and Writing courses. Additionally, she taught a number of courses through Rutgers University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute to adults over the age of fifty on how musical theatre has reflected and affected American culture. Stephanie is now full-time faculty for Rowan College at Gloucester County and Coordinator for its English Composition 101 course.

Working at community colleges, Stephanie became invested in pursuing good student writing through research-supported methods and more progressive approaches. She is interested in student motivation, grammar and style development, and cultural exploration through reading literature – broadly defined – and writing. She intends to pursue these interests as she progresses through her Doctor of Education in the College Teaching of English at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Kelly is studying the development of creative play spaces in the teaching of college writing, namely how adolescents and adults can benefit from playing with modalities, avatars of creativity, and a dialogic community of learning. Also crayons and glitter.

Kelly teaches composition and creative writing at the City College of New York (CCNY.) She is also the Program Coordinator at the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society (ICLS) at Columbia University. She trained as an actor and worked in film and television for several years, including helping to launch the Smithsonian Channel at Showtime Networks/CBS before returning to work in education. She has an M.S. in English from Utah State University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from (CCNY.) She writes YA fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry.

Ileana Jiménez is the founder of Feminist Teacher (feministteacher.com), @feministteacher, and the #HSfeminism and #K12feminism hashtags which bring visibility to the national and global feminism-in-schools movement. An educator for over 20 years, she has taught in New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Her social media presence has lifted up the work of high school feminism teachers nationally and globally, bringing exciting visibility to the feminism-in-schools movement. Her doctoral research includes feminist and queer pedagogies; feminist identity construction and literacies; school-based activism and social justice; and feminist research methodologies. In 2011, she received a Distinguished Fulbright to interview queer youth in Mexico City about coming out, relationships, and harassment. Committed to feminist teacher education and professional development, she has presented workshops and symposia for teachers on intersectional feminist and queer pedagogies and activism in Argentina, Australia, Greece, India, Mexico, and the UK. She has also published in Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism (volume 1, 2016); Radical Teacher (vol. 106, 2016); One Teacher in Ten in the New Millennium: LGBT Educators Speak Out About What's Gotten Better... and What Hasn't (Beacon, 2015); SLUT: A Play and Guidebook for Combating Sexism and Sexual Violence (Feminist Press, 2015); The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future (Feminist Press, 2015); and was recently published in volume two of Youth Sexualities: Public Feelings and Contemporary Cultural Politics (Praeger, 2018). She received her B.A. in English Literature at Smith College, and an M.A. in English Literature at Middlebury College.

Felicia G. Tersan began her career 10 years ago as an English language teacher and was sent to serve in a rural school in the remote rainforest of Sarawak, Malaysia. While serving the school, she became aware of the needs of students in the rural area who have limited access to education and English language learning. This prompted her decision to become an instructional coach 4 years later so that she could work closely with teachers, solely focusing on research-driven classroom practices to accommodate varied student learning needs. As an instructional coach, she has had the opportunity to work on various nation-wide and state-wide projects as well as leading training workshops for in-service teachers focusing on improving English language learning. In 2018, she was one of the two recipients in the country who was awarded the Malaysian Ministry of Education scholarship to pursue a Ph.D at an overseas university, which led her to Teachers College. During her downtime, she loves baking, cooking, singing (she's a closet karaoke singer!), traveling, and exploring the beautiful city of New York.

Katie, a graduate of Baylor and Duke Universities, is beginning her PhD in English Education after 15 years as a classroom teacher and curriculum coach in Texas and North Carolina. Her experience spans various school settings and leadership in professional development.  As a teacher, Katie’s peers honored her as Distinguished Educator of the Year. Her master’s thesis, “Moral Imagination in the Middle Grades ELA Classroom,” explored ELA, philosophy, and policy, and received an exemplary designation by Duke faculty with an invitation for Katie to present her work to the Duke community. Katie’s academic interests include beginning teacher support, critical literacy, diversity and equity, and early adolescent literature.

Katie and her husband are raising five year old twins who just began Kindergarten around the corner from TC. She begins this new chapter in light of her twins’ educational futures and the world she hopes they and their peers will know.

Josh is an English teacher at Geneva School on the Upper West Side. He received an M.A. in Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan and is entering his third year of teaching in New York. Josh is interested in classical education—how it’s defined, how it looks in a modern context, what its benefits and drawbacks are. Josh’s favorite thing about teaching is seeing his students connect with their stories and find their voices as writers. He lives uptown with his three kids and his wife, who is also a teacher. Josh vacations in the Adirondacks every summer. One of his life goals is climbing all 46 of the Adirondack high peaks. But so far he’s only climbed one.

Lisa Chong lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her husband and two boys. She has been teaching composition and research writing as an adjunct at Rider University, New Jersey, for the past 14 years and had facilitated book groups for students in 4th to 11th grade for 12 years before entering TC as a doctoral student. She received an M.A. in English at Arcadia University in 2004 and an M.Ed. in Reading, Writing, Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. Her research interests include Asian American adolescents, dialogic discourse/classroom, literacy practices that foster multiculturalism and critical consciousness, and writing & identity.

Having worked in classrooms Romania, Brooklyn, Boston, and Jamaica, Kevin is, at heart, a teacher.  He has been to a lot of schools, including a stint at Teachers College as a returned Peace Corps Fellow in 2003-2005.  In the interim, Kevin entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in June of 2016.  Since ordination, He has worked at St. Francis Xavier parish in Manhattan, the College of the Holy Cross, as pastor of a parish in Kingston, Jamaica, and, last year, he taught English and Philosophy at Fairfield University.  Kevin holds degrees from Holy Cross, University of Toronto, an MA from the University of Chicago, two MA’s from Boston College, and an MA from TC. Having played and coached rugby for years, Kevin feels far too brittle these days to continue playing.  Though he is a Bostonian, Kevin adores New York City.

Amanda has been teaching English and directing Theatre for nearly ten years.  Before enrolling at Columbia, TC, she taught 9th grade (Freshman Academy) at NBHS, New Britain, CT.  She also taught 8th grade Language Arts at OSMS, 9th grade (CP and Honors), and 11th grade (CP and American Studies) at OSHS, Old Saybrook, CT.  

At  present, her line of inquiry deals with how the distilled essentials of Drama Pedagogy foster a richer analysis of complex text.  As an instructor at TC, she teaches [A&HE 4551] The Teaching of Shakespeare,  to current M.A. English Ed students.

Recent workshops and presentations include:

[11/11] Smith Learning Center, NYC:  The Debate Workshop: Critically Examining Sociopolitical Consciousness through Diverse Multimodal Practices, [11/16] National Drama Conference, Nottingham University, UK: Drama Matters in NYC: Embodying Textual Analysis, [11/23] NCTE 2019, Baltimore, MA: High School- College Partnerships and the Teaching of Writing. . 

Prior to public school teaching, she obtained her B.A (Performing Arts) at Adelphi University, and her M.A (Curriculum and Instruction, English, TCPCG) at UCONN.

In 2018 she conducted research during the Literacy Unbound Summer Institute at CPET.  This past Summer of 2019,  she conducted research in the INSTEP Program at Lincoln Center Education.  

As a regular old human, she is an avid reader, foodie, traveler, dancer, artist, and performance art goer.  She is the proud Mom of a toddler and NYC is the love of her life.

When Kathleen was in third grade, she and her best friend invented their own language.  They wanted to communicate without the interference of pesky teachers and other kids. The language offered new entries into the lexicon, private jokes and symbols for all the “bad” words. Although the plan was thwarted when a teacher snatched one of their notes, Kathleen held onto her love of letters, sounds, and images; writing her thoughts on the page made them real for her and her grade-school imagination. Kathleen has made a 20+ year career out of this passion for language. She has worked as an English teacher in public and private high schools and colleges in NYC and San Diego; earned two master’s degrees, and mentored new teachers. She is honored to be a doctoral student in TC’s English Ed program and keenly interested in writing-to-learn pedagogy. She credits her pioneering work in third grade for the inspiration.