About Me

Welcome to 8th Grade Social Studies!

Here is some information about my background, why I became a teacher, and how I ended up at Maple School:

I was born and raised on a dairy farm in rural Vermont where I enjoyed feeding cows, spending time in the woods, making maple syrup, tending our bees in our apiary, and flying airplanes with my dad.  I stayed close to home for college and earned a degree in history with a minor in education from Middlebury College.  I studied abroad my junior year in England at the University of Nottingham.  Living abroad inspired my love of travel. 

Throughout my education, I’ve had several fantastic social studies teachers.  It is because of those great teachers and how much I enjoy working with kids that I decided to become a teacher myself.  After graduation from Middlebury College, I completed my student teaching semester with an excellent mentor--my former high school social studies teacher and 2001 National Teacher of the Year, Michelle Forman.

After earning my teaching credentials, I worked for three years teaching middle school social studies at U-32 School in Montpelier, Vermont.  I’ve always loved learning so after a few years of teaching, I decided to apply to graduate school.  Fortunately, I received the James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellowship, which is awarded to one teacher from every state each year.  This fellowship funded my graduate study at the University of Southern California where I earned my Master of Arts in Teaching.  While at USC, I worked with the football team as an Assistant Learning Specialist and as an Education Technology Research Assistant at the Shoah Foundation.  After completing my master’s degree, I taught 7th and 8th grade history for three years at Sequoyah School, an innovative private school in Pasadena, CA.  

I moved to Illinois and began teaching 8th grade social studies at Maple School in 2016.  My favorite parts of teaching are building relationships with kids, collaborating with colleagues, designing creative projects, and integrating technology into the classroom.  In 2016, I received a grant from Foundry10, an educational research organization based in Seattle, to experiment with incorporating virtual reality into the social studies curriculum.   

In July 2017, I attended a summer institute for educators at the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley about mindfulness and social emotional learning.  My recent academic interests include learning more about how how anxiety impacts student well-being and learning.  I am also curious about the impact of AI on education and the middle school population. 

In 2020, I was awarded the Congressional Fellowship by the James Madison Memorial Foundation.  I spent the summer of 2022 as a Fellow in the US Senate Budget Office where I conducted research and enjoyed a front-row seat to the legislative process. 

Personally, my favorite things to do are to ski, hike, read, and travel.  I’m very excited about getting to know my students and starting another year at Maple School!