While at Yale, I had the opportunity to teach the following courses:
GERM S999: German for Reading Knowledge, Summer 2026 (Grader/Assistant)
GERM 1610: Wien 1900/Vienna 1900, Spring 2026 (co-Instructor with Professor Sophie Schweiger)
ITAL 1300: Intermediate Italian I, Fall 2025 (Instructor)
GERM S999: German for Reading Knowledge, Summer 2025 (Grader/Assistant)
ITAL 317: Women in the Middle Ages, Dr. Deborah Pellegrino, Spring 2025 (TF)
ENGL 114: On Disability, Fall 2024 (Instructor of Record)
GERM 110: Elementary German I, Spring 2023 (Instructor)
ENGL 114: Troubling Translation, Fall 2022 (Instructor of Record)
LITR 140: How to Compare, Professor Jane Tylus and Abigail Fields, Spring 2022 (TF)
ENGL 154: The Multicultural Middle Ages, Professors Ardis Butterfield and Marcel Elias, Fall 2021 (TF)
Course evaluations:
Here are selections from course evaluations for courses I taught at Yale as either a Teaching Fellow or Instructor of Record between Fall 2021 and Spring 2026. Full quantitative and narrative course evaluations for all courses are available upon request.
“Zoe was an excellent instructor. She is not only patient, caring, and kind to her students, but she also brings up thought-provoking questions and fosters an environment for insightful discussion. Her teaching style is very clear and adaptive. She acknowledged the difficulty of some of our reading assignments and worked with our level of understanding to bring up broader themes and historical trends. She is very skilled at moving along discussion and adapting her teaching plan based on student engagement– she is always well-prepared with back-up lesson plans and activities to keep good energy in the room.” (GERM 1610)
“Zoe did a wonderful job facilitating a productive space for dialogue in the target language. I always felt supported (rather than discouraged or intimidated about my imperfect German) when Zoe offered guidance/assistance/correction with grammatical or vocabulary errors. Her enthusiasm for the course subject and teaching overall was palpable and helped me feel motivated and excited about the class!” (GERM 1610)
“Zoe is a fantastic instructor. She made learning the content enjoyable and adapted her teaching to what the class needed. It is obvious that she cares a lot about her students and what they take away from her teaching. I would definitely recommend taking her class to another student and I would have loved to take another class with her.” (ITAL 1300)
“Zoe always listened to our input and genuinely cared about us and our learning. She gave excellent feedback and helped me in areas I struggled in. She was always so willing to help and made sure I understood the topic before leaving office hours/class. She wanted us to succeed. I felt challenged but not unbearably overwhelmed.” (ITAL 1300)
“Zoe is an exceptional teacher who truly values her students and her discipline. Her teaching is effective for several reasons: Classes are structured to encourage free-flowing conversations rather than relying on lectures. She creates a classroom environment where students take control of their learning, engaging directly with each other instead of waiting for her to call on them. Every day, she comes prepared with a clear agenda, which helps us manage our class time effectively. She understands that our lives outside of class can be challenging and works hard to minimize our stress whenever possible. Zoe always makes time for students to meet with her and receive feedback. The countless opportunities she provides for close collaboration enable students to grow into outstanding writers.” (ENGL 114 2024)
“Normally I’m someone who can see the good and bad in almost anything, but Zoe is one of the exceptions. I have nothing but wonderful things to say. Each class we’d start by sharing our ‘threshold thoughts’, what was on our mind as we entered the classroom. Not only did I learn so much about the lives of my classmates, but we all became comfortable to engage in class discussion at a higher level. As for writing, Zoe pushed my writing to be better while also keeping me confident in my ideas and abilities, a difficult balance for most English instructors, but not for her. I wish I could take this class over again just to have Zoe as an instructor one more time.” (ENGL 114 2024)
“I am a graduating senior, and Zoe is one of the best teachers I have ever had over my Yale career. She is brilliant and made German class somewhere we really looked forward to coming to every day. Her warm and calming presence was so refreshing in a busy day. She genuinely cares for her students and their well-being. Zoe made learning a new language feel manageable, and exciting. She was so committed to our education and she really made sure we understood what was going on in class. She held us to a high standard and was a great facilitator of learning. Zoe understands teaching and how to do it well – she is built for this! Anybody would be lucky to take any class with her. Zoe made German a highlight of my last semester at Yale.” (GMAN 110)
“If Zoe had any weaknesses in her teaching, they were invisible to me. A wide variety of assignments allowed for much flexibility and creativity during the course. We were always presented with material just challenging enough to make sure we were actually learning, and whenever it was obvious that the entire class was struggling with a particularly grammar rule or question, she made sure everyone knew what was going on before moving on. The class discussions, even with our initially limited command of German, were always interested and adequately facilitated by Zoe’s input, drawing on many personal anecdotes as they relate to German culture, creating a very welcoming class-atmosphere that, after around the first week, encouraged everyone to speak and participate. This personable attitude towards teaching isn’t as common as it should be, and it was refreshing to experience that 4 days-a-week for an entire semester.” (GMAN 110)
“Zoë is an incredibly thoughtful, passionate, empathetic, and patient instructor. We began every class with “threshold thoughts,” which I had never heard of before this class. I enjoyed this little bit before each class because I felt it helped everyone get to know each other better by the end of the semester. The environment that she creates in her classroom is quite inviting and collaborative. You can tell that she cares deeply for the topics that we discussed this semester. There was always a delightful balance between the texts that we were reading and her own experiences/insight. I also appreciated that she graded our essays very quickly, and provided detailed feedback.” (ENGL 114 2022)
“Zoë was a fantastic instructor! She was obviously very dedicated to the course and genuinely eager for us, the students, to interact with the subject at hand despite being first-years completely new to the field. She was always very encouraging of our ability to understand complex texts and write about nuanced topics, while still acknowledging the difficulties that come with doing so. Out of all of my seminar classes this semester, Zoë’s class was the one I felt the most comfortable participating in due to the warm and welcoming environment she fostered. Whether it was bouncing ideas around for research papers, giving advice about transitioning to college, or discussing particular aspects of the politics of translation, Zoë was an attentive, understanding, and wise instructor both in and beyond the classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed my time under Zoë’s tutelage this semester and feel that I am a better writer, thinker, and global citizen because of it.” (ENGL 114 2022)
“Zoë did a lot to support the creation of a class environment that avoided one of the worst of the Yale pitfalls: monologues or the deliberate invocation of texts which other people don’t know to gatekeep conversations. She asked important questions when needed and supported voices and perspectives that don’t always get as much airtime. I am very thankful for her presence in this class.” (LITR 140)
“Zoe is amazing! In many ways, she played just as active a role in (and out of) class as the two main instructors. She worked hard to make the class feel like a little community (“threshold thoughts” come to mind), and I think she was largely successful. And the “abstract conferences” she held at the end of the semester were so helpful. She’s brilliant, of course, but also just such a kind person.” (LITR 140)
“Zoë was the most incredible TA I’ve had in undergrad, and honestly just one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She was unwaveringly thoughtful and supportive, had a wonderful pedagogical approach, and had the ability to perfectly balance setting high expectations for her students while giving them the resources and confidence to push themselves. She always followed up on conversations or questions we had, provided extensive suggested reading lists whenever I felt like I had a hole in my understanding, and was so encouraging when I wanted to try something new (like wanting to do theory based research and analysis). She created a classroom environment that was so stimulating but also relaxed, and we all loved her!!! To me, and many of my peers, she seems like someone born to teach. I felt lucky to have crossed paths with her.” (ENGL 154)
“Zoë was one of the best instructors that I’ve had at Yale altogether, not only limited to Teaching Fellows. Her genuine and thoughtful interest in employing intentional pedagogical strategies made her section an incredibly enriching and uplifting experience, something special that is truly so rare. Zoë made it clear always that she was committed first and foremost to our wellbeing (mental, emotional, health-wise) and was incredibly accommodating towards helping us balance the expectations of the course with our own personal circumstances, in such a way that didn’t at all compromise our learning experience. Zoë helped to make the more difficult concepts easy to grasp on more relatable terms, always respecting and incorporating everyone’s unique ideas and her wealth of insights from literature, philosophy, gender theory, French, Italian, et cetera were truly an unmatched asset.” (ENGL 154)
