"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

 --Christopher Reeves

About Me.......

I am an EdD graduate from Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri. My degree is in Transformative Learning in the Global Community. My research interests focus on cultures, languages, and systems that affect children in education. Based on more than thirty-three years of teaching at the elementary education level across the United States, I have seen firsthand what the loss of culture and language does to young children. I have also seen the inequity in school systems that provide language services for children identified as English Language Learners and do not provide those same services to children who speak a non-standard form of English. 

I am a free spirit and love learning about new places and cultures.  I am passionate about supporting children and adults inside and outside the classroom. I aim to reach beyond myself and understand the structures and attitudes we need to change to provide every child with a successful learning career.

My positionally on this subject comes from living in Hawaii and having two biracial children. Growing up, my children and the children I taught all spoke pidgin, and so did our whole family.  Although this was not "school language," it was the language of our people, community, and of home. In a very short time after leaving the islands, the children lost their home language. I realized that assimilating the children to use a standard form of language was detrimental to who they were. I am working hard to rectify a wrong that the educational system does to children. 


Professional Experience

I am currently a 4th-grade teacher in the Kirkwood R-7 School District. I co-facilitate our school's Diversity program for teachers and co-lead for professional development around equity in our school. I have been a part of the District's ELA committee and helped secure a reading program for the District, and I am currently doing the same work on the District Science committee. I continue to push the learning edge, trying current techniques for helping all children succeed. At school, you can find me on the playground cheering the soccer game,  in a small student-run book club, talking about our favorite books, or running the VEX IQ robotics teams. 

Before moving to Missouri, I lived and taught in Illinois, Florida, and Oahu, Hawaii.  Hawaii is the home where my heart lives. It is here that my passion for languages and cultures began to flourish. My children are biracial, and knowing that they were raised with one parent who solely spoke Hawaiian pidgin and one parent who spoke standard English let me get a glimpse into the world of English Language services. I was part of the team that transitioned our school from Hawaii State standards to Common Core standards education. I was active in robotics, including First LEGO League, Robofest, and MATE (Underwater Robotics). 

I hold a Bachelor’s in Education from Eastern Illinois University and a Master's in English Language Learning from Western Governors University. My future plans include joining a university to help guide and educate future teachers in the areas of diversity and equity, breaking down racism in the education system, and perhaps creating original training to help educators learn about linguistically responsive teaching.

Research interests: 


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