Curriculum & Instructional Design
Katie is passionate about creating hands-on experiences that engage learners across disciplines and experience levels. Read more about Katie's projects below.
Curriculum Developer
Director & Content Producer
Educator
Songwriting for Musical Theatre
with Pasek & Paul
30-day Online Class for Studio (Monthly)
In this cohort-based online class, students build the foundation of their own original musical alongside Broadway songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Katie developed the curriculum and created all classroom materials for this class.
Part 1: Creating the Musical's Roadmap
Benj and Justin begin the process of developing their own new musical: exploring the world, story, and musical style. Students choose and develop their story, and finish the part with a roadmap of song moments.
Part 2: Writing the "I Want" Song
Benj and Justin write the “I Want” song from their musical, a critical song that sets up the protagonist’s journey. Students follow along with their entire songwriting process, writing an original “I Want” song for their own musical.
Part 3: Writing the Reprise
Benj and Justin show how they revisit themes and motifs throughout their story to create a unified score. Students write their own second song: a reprise that uses familiar musical elements to bring a new song moment to life.
Roles & Responsibilities
As the Curriculum Developer for this class, Katie oversaw the end-to-end development of the project, from initial vision to final classroom product. This included:
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Conducting user interviews to build student profiles and understand learning goals
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Mapping the overall curriculum based on collaborative interviews with the instructors
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Coordinating with producers to plan and execute the production of class videos
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Writing copy for classroom (student projects, feedback prompts, and lesson notes) and marketing (landing page, emails, and more)
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Building comprehensive resources to improve the student experience, including coordinating with multiple composers to populate a library of pre-written instrumental tracks for students to optionally use when writing their songs
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Sharing updates and facilitating collaboration for all stakeholders throughout the life of the project
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Monitoring class performance and implementing improvements as needed
Student Experience
“This class was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. What I loved the most was the intimacy of these videos. They’re not just giving us lectures and advice on how to write a musical — they’re teaching us by writing the musical alongside us so that we can see their process and everything behind the scenes.”
“This class on musical theater writing was incredible. I learned so much — how to create lyrics that reflect what’s going on with the emotion of the character, how to complicate chords, how to make an accompaniment that fits the mood of the action or the mood of the character. It was just fantastic. I would highly recommend this class to anybody that has any interest in writing a musical or who just loves musicals and wants to know more about how they’re created. I can’t say enough about how wonderful I thought it was.”
“They shared so much as they were going along, what was happening and why they were doing it and what to look out for. We got to see all the math and magic that goes into writing a song. You really helped take the scariness away from that blank page and freed us up to go in there with curiosity and letting our imagination go wild.”
Creative Engineering
with Mark Rober
30-day Online Class for Studio (Monthly)
In this cohort-based online class, students learn the engineering design process, while working on 3 of their own creative and unique builds. Katie served as the curriculum developer responsible for launching and evaluating the class.
Part 1: Mechanical Engineering
Mark shares his end-to-end engineering process. Students learn about pneumatic systems, motors, springs, and more. They also design and optimize their first build of the class: a machine that solves a food-related problem.
Part 2: Electrical Engineering
Mark teaches electrical engineering techniques for the second build: a device that displays or creates art. Students dive into circuits, Arduino, sensors, code, and more, and finish with another unique and shareable build.
Part 3: Advanced Techniques
Students use both mechanical and electrical engineering to create a device that helps you form a good habit (or break a bad one). They also learn about some of Mark’s favorite advanced techniques, including CAD and 3D printing.
Roles & Responsibilities
Katie assumed the curriculum development of this class following the delivery of the videos, and was responsible for launching, evaluating, and improving the class. This included:
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Writing copy for classroom (student projects, feedback prompts, and lesson notes) and marketing (landing page, emails, and more)
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Building multiple resources libraries to facilitate the student experience, including step-by-step build guides for basic projects, and diagrams and walkthroughs to support beginner Arduino learners
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Sharing updates and facilitating collaboration for all stakeholders throughout the life of the project
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Monitoring class performance and student experience and implementing improvements
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Overseeing the creation of follow-up "challenge" experiences for the students
Student Experience: Check out a playlist of projects students made in the class here.
“I still cannot believe I built all of those things in under a month. It boggles my mind. I’m so proud that I can call myself a maker — someone who has these crazy ideas and can actually make them in the real world.”
“I liked that I was exposed to engineering in a fun and educational way. I always loved the idea of engineering, but I didn’t know where to start. This class helped me not only to have fun this month but to be able to make builds for the rest of my life!”
"The class was a perfect blend of facilitated and free learning. I got to learn so many new things while having an entirely unique learning experience.”
Build Your Ideas
with Simone Giertz
30-day Online Class for Studio (Monthly)
In this cohort-based online class, students explore the world of building and design with Simone Giertz, creating two of their own playful, imaginative builds. Katie helped bring the class to life as a curriculum developer and on-set content producer.
Part 1: The Just-For-Fun Build
In this part, Simone shares her workflow for creating a new build, starting from a randomly generated idea for an object. Students follow their curiosity by developing their own build, working alongside Simone as she brainstorms, prototypes, and iterates.
Part 2: The Functional Build
In this part, Simone makes something both fun and functional, this time starting from a minor inconvenience she wants to solve. Students create a second build of their own, inspired by or solving something in their own life.
Roles & Responsibilities
Katie brought this class to life as a curriculum developer as well as an on-set content producer. This included:
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Conducting collaborative interviews with Simone to understand her creative process and shape the class curriculum
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Coordinating content logistics for a week-long film shoot to capture lesson content, in collaboration with other stakeholders including Director of Photographer, editors, line producers, and more
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Working closely with Simone to capture all class video content, including troubleshooting any curriculum adjustments needed
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Writing copy for classroom (student projects, feedback prompts, and lesson notes) and marketing (landing page, emails, and more)
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Sharing updates and facilitating collaboration for all stakeholders throughout the life of the project
Bringing Songs to Life
with Idina Menzel
30-day Online Class for Studio (Monthly)
In this cohort-based online class, Broadway legend Idina Menzel shares her process for crafting a compelling, character-driven vocal performance. Katie served as a director for the class, overseeing the development of project as well as producer content on-set.
Part 1: Originating a Role
Idina takes students through her process for originating a new role using the Song-Character Exercise: Each student chooses a song, and then uses that song as a vehicle to bring different stories and characters to life.
Part 2: Reinventing a Role
Idina again shares her rehearsal process, focusing this time on an existing role from an established musical (Follies). Alongside Idina, students workshop their own take on a well-known character from a movie or stage musical.
Roles & Responsibilities
Katie served as a director and reviewer for this class. This included:
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Mentoring more junior curriculum developers as they developed the initial curriculum
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Serving as a co-director and content producer on set, including coordinating content scheduling, collaborating with other on-set stakeholders, and provided prompts, research briefs, and direction to Idina and other talent throughout the shoot.
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Writing copy for classroom (student projects, feedback prompts, and lesson notes) and marketing (landing page, emails, and more)
The Quiet Pod
Workshop Series with JCDSRI
In 2016, Katie co-led a month-long design collaboration and in-classroom workshop series with a 4th grade class at the Jewish Community Day School of RI. Katie and her partner worked with the students to collaboratively brainstorm, research, and prototype solutions to a problem the students identified in their classroom:
How can we be more calm and mindful in our classroom?
DownCity Discovery
Design Educator at DownCity Design
Katie currently teaches the DownCity Discovery program at DownCity Design in Providence, RI: A hands-on, community-oriented design studio for middle school students.
