Designed to Educate

Over the last 14 years, I have had the most incredible teaching and development opportunities that have helped shape the educator and designer that I am today. Early in my career, I worked as a content and marketing designer for a private school where I worked to further my knowledge of using design programs like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and PowerPoint. In addition, I worked for many years as a writing center tutor for college students and even designed curriculum documents for a local professional development consultant. I realized that while I had a passion for design, I was also drawn to teaching and working with others directly. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Marketing and a Master's degree in Education, I worked in Kindergarten and First Grade before transitioning to a role as a Technology Integration Teacher, where I learned invaluable skills and developed a passion for bringing students on a journey of learning and discovery through various forms of design technology. Later, as I settled into my long time role as a fourth grade teacher, I simultaneously melded my love for design and creation through design technology with my fourth grader students. Known as the "techie crew", we pushed the boundaries on technology integration and created interactive bulletin board projects, videos, websites and even started a local annual STEAM Fair to inspire other classrooms and students to get involved and showcase these wonderful opportunities to the local community. After incredible professional development opportunities both as an attendee and as a presenter to other local New Hampshire teachers in areas like classroom website creation, coding and designing and developing curriculum, I extended this passion even further by running technology clubs, coordinating Destination Imagination teams and even running annual summer sessions on website design, movie creation, coding and more for students in third through eighth grade. As I grew and continued as an educator, I realized that I would like to prepare myself for taking on more curriculum-centric roles and completed a CAGS degree in Educational Leadership - extended my teaching certifications not only as a K-8 Educator, but also as an administrator and curriculum developer. I spent years mapping and designing my district's teaching materials across all subject areas where my focus was English Language Arts and then more specifically Social Studies, as I took on the role of Social Studies Department Head for many years, where I was able to develop curriculum and train other staff members regularly. Overall, I have been truly blessed to have such amazing and diverse experiences, not only as an educator, but also as a designer of curriculum. Currently I am taking time out of the traditional classroom to focus on being a great mama to my three kids and my family's changing needs. I am also teaching local extracurricular classes to kids and working to develop my own personal passions for designing curriculum by expanding on my own curriculum design business through continued material creation and professional development opportunities. It's been a dream and a wild ride. Loving every opportunity that helps shape me into the educator I am today.