I have been a public school teacher in a highly respected district in the Atlanta metro area for the past 17 years. I have taught very diverse students, usually all together in one group! After teaching fourth grade for ten years, I am now the technology coordinator for my public, special needs school, where I support staff and serve students from 6th-12th grades as well as young adults aged 18-21. You never know what changes life will bring!
My aim is to grow every student, whether a student is excelling or struggling. I strive to address many different learning styles and multiple intelligences in my lessons so that I can reach students where they are. I firmly believe that all students have strengths, and the strengths can be used to grow students in weaker areas. My work with special education has taught me the value of Universal Design for Learning, and I seek to incorporate those principles into my instruction for all learners, whether staff or student. I often try to pull in other subject areas as I address specific content. I am a big believer in vocabulary development and have incorporated some of Marzano's ideas into my instruction. I consider myself laid back and flexible, but quality instruction (and quality instructional tools) are important to me.
Presentations include: Georgia Educational Technology Conference, 2017 "Cutting Up in the Makerspace" Gwinnett Digital Learning Conference, 2012-2017 "Cutting Up in the Makerspace" "If You Have to Ask: Creating Digital Forms and Surveys" "Wonderful Web 2.0" "Become a Graphics Guru" "Intro to Assistive Technology" I have designed professional development at the local school level, cluster (area) level, and at the district level. I earned a grant to provide every teacher in my school a Livescribe smart pen.
B.S.Ed., University of Georgia, Early Childhood Education, 1996 M.Ed., Walden University, Integrating Technology in the Classroom, 2004 Selected Staff Development History: Quality Plus Teaching Strategies Vocabulary Best Practices (Marzano) Literacy Best Practices (3 years) Opening Eyes to Mathematics Second Step (violence prevention / conflict resolution) Love and Logic (4 years) Continuous Improvement / Using Data (3 years) Georgia Educational Technology Conference attendee, 2011-2017 Gwinnett Digital Learning Conference attendee, 2011-2018
I am a 44 year old Christian, wife, and mom of two beautiful children. I live outside of Atlanta, Georgia in beautiful Gwinnett County. I enjoy discipling others at church, reading, movies, photography, and designing great curriculum materials for YOU!
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, Higher Education, Adult Education, Homeschool
English Language Arts, Balanced Literacy, Creative Writing, Writing-Expository, Reading, Grammar, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Arithmetic, Basic Operations, Fractions, Geometry, Graphing, Measurement, Science, Astronomy, Basic Principles, Earth Sciences, Environment, Social Studies - History, U.S. History, Arts & Music, Visual Arts, Computer Science - Technology, Special Education, EFL - ESL - ELD, Health, ELA Test Prep, Gifted and Talented, Critical Thinking, For All Subject Areas, Literature, Classroom Management, School Counseling, Study Skills, Instructional Technology, General Science, Physical Science, Library Skills, Writing, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Christmas/ Chanukah/ Kwanzaa, Autumn, Halloween, Winter, Presidents' Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Spring, Summer