Geogirl

I have 18 years of teaching experience at Righetti High School in Santa Maria, California. I teach students of all levels in a 9th grade earth science course along with an advanced geology course for 11th and 12th graders. I have been teaching the AP Environmental Science course since 2012. I am currently working on my CTE Credential in Energy, Environment and Utilities and I work very hard to align all my curriculum to the Next Generation Science Standards. I was lucky enough to participate in the Amazon Rainforest Educators Academy through Eco-Teach, July 2016. I am now working with the coordinator on implementing an AP Educators workshop.

My personal philosophy and the reason I became a science teacher is because science should be hands-on. Students should be able to experience and talk about the science around them. When I teach, I want students to feel relaxed and comfortable so students can feel confident talking about and asking questions about real-world science. As a person who has gone on many geology field trips around the Western United States to learn the craft, I have found that eating, drinking and living science is the best way to learn about it. My students may create atmosphere and climate bumper stickers, build earthquake-proof buildings and floor plans or make ice cream to show phase changes in order to feel endothermic reactions. As students experience all of this, they start asking questions that make science real to them and in the end, they will come to class more and learn more while having fun.

**Educator Academy in the Amazon Rainforest **Recipient, Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award 2016, NAGT **Recipient, Altrusa Community Grant for Water Testing Project, 2016 **Instructional Strategy Team Grant recipient—Betta Fish Alive, Healthy Ecosystems or Bust, 2015-2016 **Guest Speaker—Innovations in Teaching television show, Nov. 2013 **Project Curriculum Grant recipient—A Grave Mistake—Arsenic Groundwater Poisoning due to Embalming Practices during the Civil War, 2013-1014 **Project Curriculum Grant recipient—Santa Barbara County Watershed, 2013-2014 **Guest Speaker—Talking with Teachers television show, Feb 2013 **Instructional Strategy Team Member Grant recipient—Grants for Symbiotic Relationships, 2012-2013 **Care for the Earth Grant recipient, 2012 **Project Curriculum Grant recipient—Energy Unit—Renewable & Nonrenewable Sources, 2012-2013 **Project Curriculum Grant Recipient—Clay Among Us, 2012-2013 **Project Curriculum Grant recipient—Volcanoes, To be explosive or not to be explosive, that is the question, 2011-2012 ** Team Coach Grant recipient--Depositional Environments for Dummies, 2011-2012 **Innovative Technology Grant recipient—Art, Volcanoes and Prezi, 2011-2012 **Care for the Earth Grant recipient, 2010-2011 **Project Curriculum Grant recipient—Seismic Retrofit R Us, 2010 -2011 **Care for the Earth Grant recipient, 2010-2011 **South Coast Geological Society Teacher of the Year, 2003 **Tech2Go grant recipient, 2002

I have a M.Ed in education with an emphasis in teaching from UC Santa Barbara. I obtained this in 1999. I have a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Science, emphasis in Geoscience, from UCSB, 1999. I am CLAD certified. I have a bachelor's of science in geological sciences from San Diego State University. I graduated in 1996. I have an associates of arts in geological sciences from Santa Barbara City College. I graduated in 1994. I participated in an externship at Santa Maria Energy during the summer of 2012 along with an externship at Hardy Industries, Inc. during the summer of 2013. I participated in Project Lava in Hilo, Hawaii during the summer of 2001.

I love writing curriculum. I love watching students "do" science. I have written the course curricula and implemented the teaching of an advanced geology course in 2000. I have been writing the course curricula for AP Environmental Science which was implemented Fall 2012. I have traveled to Colorado Plateau, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Hawaii and Zion to study geology. This experience gave me the hands-on experiences I need for creating innovative science curricula and to bring interesting real-world ideas into the classroom for my students. Personally: My husband and I are raising a 13 year old son and eight year old fraternal twin girls. This experience makes my life a little more hectic!