Welcome to my e-Portfolio

I designed this section to show my K-12 experience. I moved around regularly because my dad was an ARMY officer. This gave me exposure to education in many states as well as US education in Germany  before I turned 12. Our last move was in the middle of my 6th grade year. I think that's one reason I have such clear memories of the middle school time of life.

Kindergarten: Manhattan, Kansas. I got detention for refusing to skip in a circle. My teacher tried everything to get me to participate and I sat with my arms crossed refusing. When the class went to recess, I had to sit with my head down at the table. I cried the entire time.

Grade 1: Manhattan, Kansas. My teacher's name was Kathy Hurt. I adored her until she started a system where we each got a stocking hung and we got stars on it when we were good. When we were bad we got a hole punched in it that could be covered by a star when we did something good. Genius, right? Well, one day I saw my name on a list for a hole. I knew the next day I'd have a hole in my stocking and I was hysterical at home. My mom had to call the teacher and when she did she learned that yes I was getting a hole. I remember not loving first grade after that and being afraid all the time of doing something to get another hole. 

Grade 2: Grafenwoer, Germany. I advanced up a grade beyond what I was supposed to be in for math only. I walked down the hallway to join 3rd graders every day. I knew no one and just sat at my desk doing worksheets and making bears out of glue. I never remembered to bring my pencil to class so I always had to borrow one from my teacher. 

Grade 3: Grafenwoer, Germany. I remember absolutely nothing from 3rd grade. I'm guessing that it was pretty happy since my memories prior to this were not the positive moments from school.

Grade 4: Fayetteville, North Carolina. We moved to North Carolina early in this year. I was the new kid and I quickly made friends. Our new school had Thursday morning jogging. Everyone jogged or walked around a small dirt track for 15 minutes on Thursday mornings - even the teachers. I made a best friend who struggled in school and I became her unofficial tutor so she didn't have to stay inside during recess to do her work. I tried to cheat once with a friend and got caught.  I was put into a "gifted and talented" program where I was pulled out of class once a week to go to a trailer in the schoolyard. I remember they tried to teach us about investing money in the stock market.

Grade 5: Fayetteville, North Carolina. In the south, they paddled students if they were bad. My teacher paddled a lot of kids. I remember trying not to stand out so I wouldn't get paddled. The only academic thing I remember is a page from a textbook with the details of the skin. It was so gross. I got a mini skirt and top this year for my birthday. I wore it every day to school. When my mom said I couldn't, I started shoving it into my backpack to change into at school.

Grade 6: Fayetteville, North Carolina & Watertown New York: My dad was moved to Fort Drum to redesign and expand the post. We sold our house really fast and my mom and sisters and I moved into a really little apartment in a different neighborhood. I had to ride a new bus for 3 months. I had a crush on a boy on that bus. He had a huge chip in his tooth. I wanted to be like him so I smashed my tooth into a bar on the bus seat trying to chip it. Thankfully I only chipped it a little bit. When I got to Watertown I was tested for a program called SEEK (Special Education for Exceptional Kids). I was one point from the cut off but my sister got in. My mom asked them to put me in. They did. I spent the rest of grades 6-10 with the same 20 kids except for lunch, recess, and PE.

Grade 7: Watertown, New York: I got lunch detention for talking in English class. A new girl moved to town and we quickly became best friends and worst enemies. Our school had dances and at one dance I chased a boy around the dance floor. He refused to dance with me. I had a sleepover planned for after the dance. I cried all night and my friends had to console me. I started playing modified soccer, volleyball, and track. I ate ice cream or cake for breakfast most days because my parents left for work before I left to walk to school. 

Grade 8: Watertown, New York: A boy I loved called me 3 evenings in a row to ask me out. Every evening I said yes. Every morning my friend Kerri greeted me in the hallway to tell me he was breaking up with me. My English teacher used to berate a boy who was poorly behaved. She is the only teacher I remember from grade 8. I felt conflicted about her class because she was so nice to me and so mean to him. We had an English project where I was making a Johnny Tremaine silver tea kettle out of salt dough and silver paint. My best friend and I had a fight in the middle of the project and both of us refused to finish. We also read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." I remember kids copying each other's homework in advanced math that year and getting a 99 or 100 on the Regents. I was proud of my math that year.

When I was in 8th grade, my dad had enough years in the the Army to retire. He was on the Colonel promote list at the time which meant if he stayed in, we'd have moved at least 3 more times while I was in high school. He chose to retire for our family so that my sister and I could stay in our school. He took a local job as an engineer and I finished high school at Waterown High School in Watertown, New York. This section shares some highlights from those 4 years. 

Here are a few not so positive mostly academic memories from my 4 years of high school. I could write a novel with my high school experiences though. Maybe I'll do that one day!

• 89 in Spanish

• La boca

• AP English speech

• 42nd Street

• Trying to get detention

• Huckleberry Finn

I went to SUNY Geneseo in their 3-2 Engineering program but switched to Math after 2 years. While at Geneseo I was a Resident Advisor for 2 years and a member of the Royal Lady Knights. I sang in a school choir and was the editor of the yearbook. I loved Geneseo and really thrived there. My inspirational teachers from college included 3 exceptional people. The first was Dr. Rogers. He was my Physics professor my freshman year. He remembered each of our names within a week. Our class had 120 students! The second inspirational professor is Dr. Habre. He was a visiting professor from Lebanon and he taught me Calculus my freshman year. I did poorly on my first test in his class and I went to his office hours sobbing. He asked me if I really studied. I admitted that I didn't. I thought I had it from being in class. He reminded me that good grades and skills take work and suggested I sit in the front row. I studied hard from that day forward, moved to the front of the room and got an A in the class. More importantly, I finally recognized that doing well required consistent effort. My final major influence was my art teacher, Dr. Fink. I learned about setting a classroom tone from him. I took several courses from him, and a memorable moment was on a field trip to the Genesee Country Village. He required his class of college students to attend and we met him on the bus early in the morning. He was so excited as he shared his passion of architecture and design that it was positively contagious. 

Immediately after graduation, I started my grad program at UMass Amherst. It was a 15 month Masters of Education degree called MESTEP (Math, English, Science and Technology Program). I took intensive summer courses for a month and then did my student teaching in a summer school High School program in Acton, Massachusetts. After summer school every day, we had classes until 4 pm. Every day after class I went to Walden Pond to study before going home to prepare for the next day of teaching. 

In the fall, I had a paid internship in the Worcester City School district at a middle school. There, I was responsible for teaching 3 courses without supervision for 20 weeks. The teacher I was in for used the time for preparation and a sabbatical of sorts, and he was also responsible for mentoring me.  In the spring of that year I had another paid internship at Simplex with a focus in corporate education. There, I had the opportunity to do a little bit of video editing, do some corporate training and even travel to Los Angeles for a corporate training event. 

Teaching Philosophy

I believe all humans can learn anything they choose to focus on. Many many years ago Oprah inspired me when she said, "A person can have it all, just not at the same time." We can only focus on so many things at once. My students have to juggle 9 periods a day. It is difficult to give equal attention to all these classes. I work to meet kids where they are and help them achieve what they can while they are in my classroom. 

I also believe that fairness is giving each person what they need. Fairness is not giving every person the same thing. In my classroom, I know students learn differently and they need me to explain things to them in a way that they can understand and grow their knowledge of a subject. 

I have had a growth mindset since long before I ever heard of the term. We are always learning! I strive to pass this mindset to my students by highlighting our efforts over our results and sharing my struggles with learning.

Professional Journey

2 weeks after graduating from Geneseo with a math degree I started my grad degree program in teaching at UMass Amherst. Two summers and one academic year later I'd emerge after the most unconventional degree program I could have found. Our coursework was concentrated for a month on the Amherst campus followed by student teaching summer school for 6 weeks in Acton, MA during the mornings with classes each afternoon. I spent my late afternoons at Walden Pond studying and swimming before driving home as the park closed at 8 pm. 

Following my 15-month program and almost moving to Charlotte, NC for a middle school position I settled on Framingham, MA for a job teaching high school. Our department of 21 math teachers had our lunch room, copy room, and department head. With 4 new hires to the dept that year alone the department felt like an instant family. I'm sure I would have stayed forever if the area hadn't been so expensive and I hadn't fallen in love and gotten married. It was those 3 things that drove my new husband and me back to New York to be closer to family and to my new job teaching 7th and 8th grade in Pittsford.

My home base in Pittsford was a storage closet with 5 other teachers. We taught in other people's rooms during their prep and we were fast friends. Marilyn became my closest friend. She was in her first year back after many years home with her 3 girls. Her youngest was a 6th grader in our school at the time. She invited me to be a ski club advisor with her and I  played sand volleyball with my colleagues and went to baby showers and parties. I loved my job. After having my daughter my whole life changed. Luckily, the district had just started a pilot job-sharing program. My maternity sub was interested in splitting the position with me when I returned after having Elizabeth. A good friend took care of Elizabeth and life was pretty ideal. However, it wasn't long until we felt the pull to be closer to our families so that Elizabeth could grow up near her grandparents. We moved to Trumansburg because Scott's parents lived here and my parents said they'd move where we landed.

Xander was born shortly after we moved and I spent my days volunteering at the kids' preschool, serving on boards, and later becoming part of the PTO. I opened a small bakery out of my house and taught preschool part-time for many years before a long-term sub job opened in the middle school in Trumansburg. By then Xander was in 6th grade.  Marilyn had inspired me - I knew it was feasible to get back into a career after a long break and thrive so I took the position.  It became an entry point for eventual full-time employment in the district. After so many years I finally landed my dream job - teaching middle school in a school less than a mile from my home.