Teaching is an absolute passion of mine! This is going to be a year full of hard work and high expectations, but it will also be fun and rewarding! I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us. I know you are nervous about beginning this first year of middle school, so I’d like to tell you a little about me.

As a senior in high school, I was undecided about what I wanted to study in college, so I began praying about it. I can still very vividly remember sitting straight up in bed one morning and thinking, “I’m going to be a teacher!” And that was that! I have stayed the course ever since. Four and a half years later, I earned my bachelor’s degree in education from NSU in Tahlequah-- GOOOOOO Redmen!

This will be my tenth year here at Hilldale. I taught 5th grade ELA for five of those and was the 5th virtual/enrichment teacher during the Covid craziness. Before I was a Hornet, however,  I taught JH Language Arts for nine years in Quinton, OK. My husband is the high school principal here, and I have two sons: one in elementary and the other in high school. We are Hornets through and through! We love to travel, play board games, visit the movies, and eat delicious food wherever we go. We share our home with two rotten kitties, a hermit crab, and a border collie named Roxy.

The craziest thing I have ever done was shave my head to raise money for childhood cancer research-- a cause VERY near to my heart. I am proud to say that over the past ten years, I have helped raise more than $75,000 for the St. Baldrick’s shave event held every April. St. Baldrick’s mission (and mine) is to find newer and safer cancer treatments for kiddos. 

I am a ‘Whole Brain’ teacher, which means that I have researched brain development and design my lessons with that in mind. This class will be very different from any of your previous ones that’s for sure! Please check out wholebrainteaching.org for more information. It’s fascinating!

Lastly, our class motto this year will be: Hustle Kindness. I DO NOT tolerate hatefulness or bullying whatsoever. There is no need for it. We make this world a better place by how we treat the people in it. When students come to class and have their ideas shut down, it's no longer safe.  When we are having a discussion and there are side conversations going on, it's no longer safe.  When students are trying something new for the first time and we're not supportive, it's no longer safe.  Your job is to check yourself and your behavior - is what I'm doing SUPPORTING the kind of classroom we want to have?  Am I taking away someone else's chance to learn?  When the answer is yes, we will have a problem, and I will address you about the issue and we will work to resolve it. Please come to me if you have any questions or concerns-- we are a team!