Normal Park Museum Magnet

1991 B.A. English, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
1994 M.Ed., Lesley College, Cambridge, MA

While at the University of Connecticut, I enjoyed studying aboad. Cultural anthropology is of great interest to me. I had the privilege of studying Aboriginal culture at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. I also studied political science at the University of Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, I taught at a Teacher Training Institute. While in Ethiopia, I trained teachers in Howard Gardener's Theories of Multiple Intelligence. Upon returning from Ethiopia, I taught ESL and advised International Students at the EF International Language School in Boston, Massachusetts. I then taught fourth grade at The Floral Street School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. After moving to Tennessee, I was a fourth grade teacher at The Webb School of Knoxville.

I am absolutely thrilled to be using the "Guided Reading" method to teach students at Normal Park. Seeing each child progress at their individual pace, using authentic text, is a great pleasure. As a reading interventionist, I see children flourish as they learn to love language. Reading is thinking, and as children begin to develop higher level thinking skills, they begin to understand themselves and the world around them. Their framework for thinking expands and new worlds open up to them! As Mya Angelou writes, "I love the book and the look of words, I love the tracks of new thinking in my mind." To me, there is no greater purpose in life than to instill these precious tracks of new thinking in our children. It is an honor to be part of such a creative team of teachers.