Rebekah Villafaña is currently an associate adjunct instructor, in the Sociology Department, at College of the Canyons in California. Villafaña has taught a variety of courses over the years such as Introduction to Sociology, Intimate Relationships and the Family, Introduction to Women’s Studies, Sociology of Sexualities, Introduction to Criminology, Modern Social Problems, Multiculturalism in the U.S., and Thinking Critically About Social Issues. In addition, her experience includes teaching English as a Second Language and Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Los Angeles Unified School District for nearly 10 years. With her background and knowledge, Villafana led the Interstate Faculty Team as the chair of the Teamwork and Value Systems to develop the Passport Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and Proficiency Criteria for that area. More information on the PLOs and Proficiency Criteria can be found here. As chair, Villafaña will convene the team annually to discuss the latest developments related to teaching students the cross-cutting skills of teamwork and value systems. Villafaña also serves on the Interstate Faculty Team Chairs Committee which is convened annually and has the responsibility of making recommendations regarding the PLOs to the Passport Review Board.
Reflecting back on the development of the PLOs, Villafaña commented that “working on Interstate Passport has been a phenomenal experience. I have been able to work with colleagues across the disciplines and from a variety of states, which helped to clearly develop the Teamwork and Value Systems PLOs. During that experience, I was greatly influenced by insights from my peers in areas such as engineering, business, and communication, as we dove deeper into the relevance and significance of intentionally teaching teamwork in the classroom, as a part of 21st century learning.” Now while teaching, Villafaña states that “my classroom assignments and team projects are now designed even more purposefully by adding teamwork components such as roles, responsibilities and reflection on the teamwork process, to the assignment’s discipline specific content criterion.”