Teaching
There is a deep satisfaction in gaining an intuition of how the world works; connecting with community in the process deepens the joy of learning and teaching.
My educational mission is to empower students in these journeys. My teaching evaluations consistently show appreciation for how I break down complex concepts and foster inclusive environments to help students feel seen and valued. These practices encourage engagement and enable us to collaboratively build a classroom that is not an assembly line, but instead a space of curiosity, holistic growth, and practicing freedom.
Teaching itself is a learning journey too, and I am continually growing and being challenged by the educational community and developments in pedagogy.
My backgrounds in teaching, mentoring, and online education have given me practice working with a variety of students in different contexts. I have seen the impacts of uniting experiences inside and outside the classroom, tailoring learning to be meaningful and accessible to specific needs. It is my hope as a teacher that I can support and challenge my students in these ways, giving them tools to take mutual responsibility for their learning and self-actualization.
Highlighted Teaching Experience
Primary Instructor, CHEMENG 170: Kinetics & Reactor Design, Stanford University, Spring 2020
Primary Instructor, Mathematics (Multiple courses), Art of Problem Solving Online Education, 2017-2019
Invited Lecturer (3 lectures and labs), Process Dynamics and Control, San José State University, Spring 2021
Co-instructor, 18.031: System Functions & the Laplace Transform, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Winter 2015
Student Feedback
“Joel is a fantastic teacher. I always really looked forward to going to his recitations because I knew I was going to learn so much from them. He explains the concepts we learn very clearly and in a different enough way [...] for them to still be interesting and new. [...] He always seems to understand exactly why you’re confused and knows how to make you understand.” ~MIT, Multivariable Calculus, ES.1802
“AMAZING teaching, I don’t really know what he did, but I would walk in class confused, come out understanding everything, best math teacher I ever had in my life.” ~MIT, Multivariable Calculus, ES.1802
“Counting and probability used to be a subject that I struggled with a lot. But after this course, my understanding has grown so much, especially since this class values the concept of WHY so much. [Joel] has taught me many ways to think outside the box and not to memorize! Thank you so much!” ~Art of Problem Solving, Introduction to Counting & Probability
“Wow, if you get the chance, take this class with Joel. He is such a ray of sunshine which was much needed this quarter and he is extremely receptive to his students. Every lecture had an ‘exit ticket’ where we gave feedback about how lecture went and what we were still confused about and Joel would address those questions in the next lecture. I seriously appreciate how much effort was put into teaching the material and feel lucky that I took the class with this teaching team!” ~Stanford, Kinetics & Reactor Design, CHEMENG 170
“Joel is great! Joel did the best job adapting his class to an online format in the department. [...] It’s obvious that Joel really cares about the students, and he does a lot to make sure the work is doable for everyone. I thought the homeworks and exams were very fair. [...] Joel is a great teacher who is very empathetic. This is probably the best class in the department.” ~Stanford, Kinetics & Reactor Design, CHEMENG 170
“Joel is absolutely amazing. Hands down one of the best professors I have ever had.” ~Stanford, Kinetics & Reactor Design, CHEMENG 170