For me, teaching is more than a profession- it’s part of my identity. I take pride in my role as an educator, facilitator, challenger, advocate, coach, and fellow learner, as I truly believe I am helping to shape a better future for my students, as well as my own children.

I wholeheartedly subscribe to the adage that education is not simply the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think. In my classroom, I take a multi-faceted approach to history. I challenge my students to investigate unique perspectives, motives, and context through document analysis and application of historical knowledge. I strive to foster a community of learners that focuses on building collaboration through shared similarities, as opposed to deepening divides between opposing cultures. I strive to address misconceptions and expand students’ breadth of understanding in terms of cultures, religions, and historical events.

My students’ success is ultimately an extension of my own, therefore I dedicate time and effort into highlighting the importance of self-reflection, self-advocacy, and the importance of character and integrity. Students know that my door is always open and that while my class is challenging, there’s meaning behind every lesson we work on together. As students move on from my classroom, my hope is that they’ve grown to think critically, work diligently, and lead kindly.

Being a teacher here at AD Henderson/FAUHS gives me the opportunity to be surrounded by some of the best educators in the profession so I try to take every opportunity to foster collaboration amongst our team. As educators we all tend to lean on each other for our strengths to help us all create a better learning environment for our students. Technology integration has always been a key focus of mine in the classroom and I try to help my fellow FAUHS teachers modernize their classroom through advocating for the usage of new hardware and software solutions to old problems. This approach has showed renewed purpose throughout the Covid-19 pandemic as we all transitioned to a technology dependent model. Whether it be through impromptu sessions on how to better use Zoom and other remote-teaching related technology to small meetings on the benefits of using software like Apple Classroom or Nearpod to aid in classroom management, I try to utilize my experience to lead by example on a regular basis.

This philosophy extends outside of my classroom to initiatives involving the University as well. Research has been the focus of FAUHS for some time now and I’ve been involved in our resident Research Communities of Practice facilitated by the Javits grant for the past three years. Through this program I have become a teacher-leader on promoting research initiatives within our community and helping our teachers engage with representatives at both the FAU College of Education and College of Medicine. Research can not only inform our practice as professionals, but gives us the opportunity to build relationships and hone our craft with the intent of replication by other teachers. Nothing perfectly represents our mission as a Lab-school more than engaging in research with the intent of collaboration and growth. My intent is to not only spread awareness of the work we do to those at the University level, but to actively encourage collaboration between us as well.

This focus on collaboration spreads to my involvement as teacher-mentor to our students as well. I’ve developed an intensive tutoring/mentor program for our upperclassmen at the university level to engage and assist our incoming 9th grade students on a yearly basis. This not only helps in maintaining their academic standing in the classroom, but promotes and imparts that collaborative spirit to our students as well. Additionally, I’ve created partnerships with our students with local law firms and trial judges as sponsor for our FAUHS Mock Trial club, and collaboration with our FAU orchestra and symphonic band as sponsor of the FAUHS Music club.

Outside of our district I am also involved with initiatives spearheaded by the College Board through my involvement as an AP Reader/Leader for the yearly AP World History and AP Capstone Seminar/Research exams. This yearly experience gives me the opportunity to network with and exchange ideas with teachers across the nation.

As a parent of two incredible young girls and future Owls (Liana-4 and Maya-2) my focus is crystal clear in helping to create an environment here at ADHUS/FAUHS that we can all be proud of. Whether that take the form of creating and implementing initiatives at the school level to provide opportunities within our own community to further perfect our craft, or outside of the school level to advocate for our professional and future interests here at the school, my goals are one in the same. We all come together to create something unique and special in the world of education that demonstrates that what we do every day goes beyond the classroom and truly helps to shape the world of the future we want to live in through our students.

Over the past four years, I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with a renewed focus on teacher-led research in the classroom made possible through the implementation of the Javits Gifted and Talented Student Education Grant. With the leadership of Dr. Tricia Meredith and Dr. Elisa Calabrese, I’ve been granted the opportunity to continue that mission by participating in and contributing to Research Communities of Practice (RCP) at ADHUS/FAUHS. As both a member and mentor to new members, I’ve assisted in the creation of three student-centered research initiatives meant to address both academic and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) concerns within our classrooms through an evidence-based approach.

Since my first opportunity to participate in RCP, I’ve strived to help cultivate a culture of research-driven initiatives at ADHUS/FAUHS. I’ve continued this focus through internal dissemination of projects I’ve designed and implemented to serve as exemplars for curious teacher-researchers as well as to external panels in partnership with FAU to promote the research-driven practices of ADHUS faculty at the higher-ed level. I’ve also had the opportunity to expand and promote our research initiatives at the state level at the annual FERA conference. There, I was able to network and promote the impact of our work (On teachers and students) to faculty from other Lab schools in Florida and those involved in education at the academia level as well.

Currently, I continue to serve as a mentor to new teacher-researchers by demystifying the research process and supporting teachers who want to include research into their classroom.

As a parent of two incredible young girls and future Owls (Liana-4 and Maya-2) my focus is crystal clear in helping to create an environment here at ADHUS/FAUHS that we can all be proud of. Whether that take the form of creating and implementing initiatives at the school level to provide opportunities within our own community to further perfect our craft, or outside of the school level to advocate for our professional and future interests here at the school, my goals are one in the same. We all come together to create something unique and special in the world of education that demonstrates that what we do every day goes beyond the classroom and truly helps to shape the world of the future we want to live in through our students.