About Me

Professional Bio

This is my 28th year teaching. I have taught elementary, middle school, high school, and adult education. I have also been an administrator of Gifted Education for 5 years and entrepreneur for over 35 years. 

• Doctor of Philosophy in Language, Reading, and Culture  (2020 - University of Arizona)

• Master of Arts in Education/Curriculum and Instruction (2005 - University of Phoenix)

• Bachelor of Arts in Education - Dual Certification in Elementary Education and Secondary Social Studies (1996 - University of Arizona)

• Associate of General Studies  (1994 - Pima Community College)

I currently teach in CCSD - social studies, Juvenile Detention Center. 

Also teach 3 of 6 gifted endorsement method courses for Touro University.

Nevada Licensing

• Certificate: Elementary K-8 – Teaching   

• Certificate: Secondary 7-12 – Social Studies

• Special: K-8 Gifted & Talented   

• Special: K-12 School Administrator

• Special: Computer-Based Applications

• Special: Reading Specialist 

Gifted Education Philosophy

I developed my philosophy through these experiences:

• Attended a high school as a student that offered a Vygotsky/Dewey type education;

• Taught identified students for over 20 years at the elementary and high school levels such as GATE pull-out and Advanced Placement; and

• Created/taught 7+ professional development courses over five years in Arizona to 450+ teachers who earned in combination of 40,000+ professional development hours toward a gifted endorsement and that are aligned to teaching of the gifted national preparation standards.

As a result, I can sum up my philosophy with these five statements:

• What do you do when a student already knows it or learns it very quickly?

• Gifted methods are effective teaching that can help meet the social and academic needs of all students, regardless of their identification.

• Identification methods are typically inequitable, favoring high socio-economic students, and fail to identify different types of giftedness and therefore, all students should have access to gifted curriculum and instructional methods regardless of their identification.

• Since there is no universally accepted definition of giftedness, I define gifted and talented as being able to make connections/perform in a particular domain beyond the mean.

• Implementing gifted methods are essential for identified students so that they learn to take responsibility for their own learning, become lifelong learners, achieve their personal goals, and not regress to the mean. Gifted students deserve to achieve at least a year's growth in an academic year as any other student.