Teaching

As an educator, my primary goal is to support students in developing both academic rigor and personal insight into the topics we explore together. I do so by scaffolding learning, fostering active engagement in class, and ensuring that all students—regardless of their starting points or prior knowledge—are adequately supported to achieve our learning targets. I also prioritize reading and responding to students’ written work.

Taught Courses

As Instructor in Education at Harvard University

• “Literacy, Power, and Society: Considerations for Policy, Pedagogy, and Justice”
• “Equity and Opportunity: Language in Context”

As Lecturer at Boston College

• “Reimagining School and Society”

As Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

• “Bilingual Learners”                                           
• “Philosophy of Education”
• “Education Policy and Analysis”
• “Education in Uncertainty”

As Teaching Fellow at Harvard’s Philosophy Department

• “Epistemic Injustice”                                                          
• “Human Ethics: A Brief History”

In Their Own Words

Student reflections from anonymous course evaluations, spanning both undergraduate and graduate teaching: 

“She is very mindful of how much context/background information to introduce before we dive into a particular topic/issue, considering our diverse backgrounds. She also role models how to relate to, build on, or disagree with each other’s opinions, but not to the person.” 

“I liked how she clearly articulated complicated ideas and provided us with a space to ask questions or seek clarification.” 

“Best run section I have had at Harvard.” 

“One of the best things about learning with Professor Alkateb–Chami was her willingness to engage in conversations with students, even when she had feedback or even gentle pushback on opinions/ideas presented. I appreciated this especially because in past ‘identity’ related courses, sometimes instructors I’ve had were very hesitant to ask students to go deeper in their perspectives due to the sensitive subject matter. I felt like Maya really wanted the best for us, which was to think critically about even our own… experiences and it made the course feel incredibly ‘grounded.’”

“Maya was absolutely fantastic. She made the class so much more enjoyable and helped me take a lot more from it than I would have otherwise. She gave some of the MOST HELPFUL, MOST THOROUGH feedback on essays and really helped facilitate fruitful discussion both during lecture and section.”