2021–2023 · Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
For several years, I supported advanced students in Johns Hopkins CTY’s online writing and research programs, with work spanning individualized writing instruction, research methods, quantitative reasoning, curriculum feedback, and publication preparation.
This is an important part of my teaching background because the work sat between disciplines. Students were not only learning to write clearly; they were learning how to define a research question, evaluate evidence, make methodological choices, interpret quantitative information, and explain what their findings did—and did not—show.
At a glance
- Role: online teaching assistant / curriculum-development support.
- Instructional focus: research writing, research design, evidence evaluation, statistics, SPSS, quantitative reasoning, revision, and academic communication.
- Format: individualized and small-group support for academically advanced students in accelerated online courses.
- Methods: conferencing, written feedback, scaffolded research support, curriculum refinement, and publication-oriented revision.
Teaching research as a process
Research writing is often taught as though the final paper were the task. My work with CTY students focused instead on the sequence behind it: developing a workable question, locating and assessing sources, choosing an appropriate design, understanding human-subjects and IRB concepts, organizing evidence, analyzing quantitative information, and revising the argument as the research changed.
In one-on-one sessions, that could mean helping a student distinguish a claim from evidence, troubleshoot a research design, interpret an SPSS output, refine a presentation, or identify where a conclusion went beyond what the data supported. The goal was not to replace the student’s reasoning, but to make the reasoning visible enough that it could be examined and improved.
Writing, statistics, and methodological literacy
The quantitative component matters to how I think about writing and learning design now. Students needed to understand not only how to calculate or report a result, but how to connect a statistical choice to a research question and then communicate the result accurately to a reader.
That same principle appears across my later work in learning analytics, survey research, curriculum design, and data communication: methods are useful only when people can understand what the method is doing, why it fits the problem, and how to act on the result.
Curriculum feedback and publication support
My CTY work also included feedback on research-writing curriculum and the development of supplemental and core instructional components. I supported students through revision and, in advanced research-writing work, through preparation for publication.
CTY continues to describe its advanced programs as preparation for higher-order thinking and college-style academic challenges, with research and writing courses emphasizing evidence, inquiry, analysis, revision, and communication.
Learn more about Johns Hopkins CTY
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