AboutMe
Here are just a few fun little facts about me. I'm a tried-and-true south Florida native, which means that I love the beach, hot summers, and truth be told, every time the thermostat dips below 68, I pull out my winter parka!
I currently teach at a wonderful school in South Florida. I spent the first four years of my educational career teaching English and reading to an active bunch of middle school students. When people heard that I taught middle school, I was greeted with looks of pity, or occasionally, utter dismay. That said, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Yes, the kids were incredibly hormonal and maybe mildly insane, but they were also sweet and hilarious, and I loved teaching them. Then, I moved up a division and I taught Biblical Theology and Worldview Studies to 9-12th graders. It was a different kind of challenge, but no less enjoyable than my previous teaching experiences. It was a privilege to interact with high school students on a daily basis and to be a small part of their lives. I went back to my roots in the middle school English classroom for a couple more years, then spent two more year after that getting to teach rather energetic but altogether delightful 8th graders in the Classical model. I then got to cut my teeth on high school English for the first time, and I loved every second. It was a great opportunity to fall in love with the great playwrights and authors and poets from high school and college all over again. Shakespeare's sonnets? #swoon Swift's awesome and cutting satire? All over it. Achebe's devastating commentary on colonialism? I'm in (with a box of tissues, clearly). Basically, I couldn't believe someone wanted to pay me money to talk about classic literature all day. It was like my very own book club, and I'd have done that jazz for free but shhh...don't tell them just yet. ;) I later moved into administration, which has been a different ballgame for sure. However, there is something profound about getting to pour into our teachers so that they can pour into our students. It's not always easy, but there is such joy in it. And of course, I still get to be with the kids, who are the best part of the whole thing.
I'm also an avid reader, with Maeve Binchy, John Grisham, Jane Austen, and Agatha Christie making the top of my list, along with of course the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, Edgar Allen Poes, my boy Will Shakespeare, and really any classic novel of the 19th and 20th centuries tossed in. I also still love quality young adult fiction, a la Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series. Give me a good book of any genre, though, and I'll get so immersed in it that I'm pretty much useless to anyone until I finish it.
In addition, I'm a huge college football fan and love to kick back on a Saturday afternoon in front of a good game. As a University of Florida grad, I'm a die hard Gators fan, but I do, of course, cheer on the Spartans during their Big 10 games. When it's not Saturday, I'm rooting for the Dolphins and whichever team that Tim Tebow is playing for. Apparently now it's baseball.
I love my wonderful family, my church, and my school, and I feel so blessed to have been apart of MSU's MAED program, through which I have grown so much, both personally and professionally.
Extras
I currently teach at a wonderful school in South Florida. I spent the first four years of my educational career teaching English and reading to an active bunch of middle school students. When people heard that I taught middle school, I was greeted with looks of pity, or occasionally, utter dismay. That said, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Yes, the kids were incredibly hormonal and maybe mildly insane, but they were also sweet and hilarious, and I loved teaching them. Then, I moved up a division and I taught Biblical Theology and Worldview Studies to 9-12th graders. It was a different kind of challenge, but no less enjoyable than my previous teaching experiences. It was a privilege to interact with high school students on a daily basis and to be a small part of their lives. I went back to my roots in the middle school English classroom for a couple more years, then spent two more year after that getting to teach rather energetic but altogether delightful 8th graders in the Classical model. I then got to cut my teeth on high school English for the first time, and I loved every second. It was a great opportunity to fall in love with the great playwrights and authors and poets from high school and college all over again. Shakespeare's sonnets? #swoon Swift's awesome and cutting satire? All over it. Achebe's devastating commentary on colonialism? I'm in (with a box of tissues, clearly). Basically, I couldn't believe someone wanted to pay me money to talk about classic literature all day. It was like my very own book club, and I'd have done that jazz for free but shhh...don't tell them just yet. ;) I later moved into administration, which has been a different ballgame for sure. However, there is something profound about getting to pour into our teachers so that they can pour into our students. It's not always easy, but there is such joy in it. And of course, I still get to be with the kids, who are the best part of the whole thing.
I'm also an avid reader, with Maeve Binchy, John Grisham, Jane Austen, and Agatha Christie making the top of my list, along with of course the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, Edgar Allen Poes, my boy Will Shakespeare, and really any classic novel of the 19th and 20th centuries tossed in. I also still love quality young adult fiction, a la Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series. Give me a good book of any genre, though, and I'll get so immersed in it that I'm pretty much useless to anyone until I finish it.
In addition, I'm a huge college football fan and love to kick back on a Saturday afternoon in front of a good game. As a University of Florida grad, I'm a die hard Gators fan, but I do, of course, cheer on the Spartans during their Big 10 games. When it's not Saturday, I'm rooting for the Dolphins and whichever team that Tim Tebow is playing for. Apparently now it's baseball.
I love my wonderful family, my church, and my school, and I feel so blessed to have been apart of MSU's MAED program, through which I have grown so much, both personally and professionally.
Extras