I am a passionate educator from northeast Los Angeles where I was born and raised. A California boy. I coach teachers to use equitable discourse strategies that involve all learners in their classrooms and hopefully no one gets left behind. The art of teaching is an act of community organizing and social justice.

The only thing I'm more passionate about than teaching is learning myself. I love learning! I'm not without my opinions, but I have an open-mind to new information and am always willing to allow new data to change my opinions. The effect is having diverse hobbies and interests. This world has many fascinating things going on in it, so I'll try, not all, but most things, at least once to find out whether I like it. I find that growth happens most rapidly through discomfort so I invite challenge.

I'm a pretty active guy and try to be healthy. Thankfully, I live just walking minutes from Golden Gate Park so I'm able to get to the park often to play disc golf, bike, and kick around the soccer ball. During the winter season I try to hit the mountain on skis or snowboard. I also enjoy dancing a lot and participate in SF decentralized dance party. If you're ever in SF you should definitely try it. Oh, and I love a good dance performance!

I'm a tech education nerd, but a very well balanced one! I have a MOMA membership and love going to art museums on a regular basis. I'm even known to bring a sketch pad with me occasionally. As far as music goes I tend to listen to a lot of hip hop although my dad is a jazz buff and my mom listens to a lot of classic rock so this has given me an appreciation for music of all varieties.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I signed up for couchsurfing some time ago, but I'm actually pretty new to its services. My girlfriend who thinks I'll be uncomfortable sleeping in a car when I travel encouraged me to a actually use my account. She's been using this awesome site for years during her travels all over Europe. I work to build sustainable community and dig the concept of people sharing what they can with others as they travel and learn. What a great way to learn!

I haven't traveled much outside the US although I did make it to Kenya and Greece - which were both blasts - but my girlfriend loves to go abroad so I see many trips to foreign lands in store for my future. lol

Interests

I suppose I should also mention I love a good meal and have fun cooking too. I tend to eat and make a lot of asian foods but I love everything really. I'm also pretty serious about loose leaf tea and fresh coffee! Gotta get the timing just right on a steep! lol

• education
• hiking
• skiing
• snowboarding
• soccer
• teaching
• mathematics
• learning
• disc golf
• good conversation
• data science

Music, Movies, and Books

Although not limited to I mostly read sci-fi. Some of my fav reads include Dune, Catch 22, Heart of Darkness, Harry Potter, and Ender's Game. I don't watch a ton of films but I enjoy anime and also shows like Game of Thrones and Vikings.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

After high school I went off to get a pretty amazing education at Caltech in Pasadena for which I'm grateful. I then taught high school math for 8 years in a sorta rough neighborhood. This humbled me and changed me irrevocably. It opened my eyes to all the ways in which teaching is poorly approached and sparked in me my passion to revolutionize the way we teach. Since then that is what I've been working hard to do. Young people deserve to earn credit for what they know and can do.

When I am gone from this Earth, I would like this text field to say that I helped in the dismantling of the school to prison pipeline in the US.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm a down to earth guy so I can talk to anyone about anything. I have a lot of knowledge on education, math and making it fun, and the tech world so I'm happy to share what I know with you.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, England, France, Greece, Italy, Kenya, Mexico

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States