For the 2022-2023 school year, I will be teaching the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Kindergarten and Second Grade Interrelated Program.  I have been teaching for 30 years in various states, including Michigan, Colorado, Florida, and Georgia.  I received my Bachelor of Elementary Education degree from Alma College, a private, Liberal Arts College located in Alma, Michigan.  While teaching in Colorado, I obtained my Master’s degree in Special Education – Affective Needs at the University of Northern Colorado, located in Greeley, Colorado.  I also obtained my Specialist degree in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State.  For my Specialist degree I was required to conduct an extensive research project and I chose to focus on the benefits of the Reader’s Workshop model in an Elementary School. 

As a veteran teacher, I have worked in Self-Contained classrooms for Autism and Emotional/Behavioral Disorders in grades K-5th, Resource classrooms in grades K-5th, as well as Co-teaching in grades K-3rd.  I also developed and implemented an alternative school-based special education program for Mesa County Valley School District 51 in Grand Junction, Colorado, which went beyond a self-contained classroom in that it provided therapeutic components on a daily basis within the elementary school setting for students in grades 3rd-5th.  

My Beliefs:

• I believe every child has value and arrives at school as a unique individual with individual needs.
• I value and celebrate differences in children.
• I believe children flourish under a strong sense of belonging and I strive to create a loving, safe, trusting community in which to learn.
• I believe that being part of a community means supporting, encouraging, and sharing both our successes and failures together.
• I believe children learn best in authentic settings and I strive to provide real life learning experiences within the classroom setting.
• I feel children need success in every domain and I strive to provide opportunities in all areas of life.
• I believe children learn academic and social skills best by instruction, modeling, role-playing, practicing, problem solving, and constructive feedback.
• I believe mistakes are opportunities for positive learning and that discipline means “to teach”, not to punish.
• I believe students need to be taught responsible choices.
• I believe students need to learn how to advocate for themselves.
• I believe teachers need to consistently use best practices based on current research to teach effectively.

I look forward to working with you and your child this school year!