Student Engagement Happens When Creativity Meets Inquiry

My path as an educator began with a fascination with history, culture, and language. I studied Latin American History at the University of California, Davis, and continued my graduate studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. I went on to live in Mexico for 12 years, an experience that profoundly shaped the educator, writer, and curriculum designer I have become.

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I have always been drawn toward one over-arching challenge: how do we make complex ideas accessible without making them less complex? My own experience growing up as a struggling reader taught me that learners need more than information—they need meaningful ways into it. That belief has shaped how I teach and design: through creativity, purposeful scaffolding, student engagement, and opportunities to question, explore, and discover.

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My lifelong fascination with Mexico and its history also became one of the most significant creative works of my life: The Last Toltec King, a historical novel that took more than fifteen years to research and write. Creating it brought together my love of history, research, language, and storytelling—and proved particularly meaningful for someone who had struggled with reading as a child.

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More than three decades later, I’m still asking questions, still creating, and still passionate about student learning.