Experience

Being a teacher is all I have ever wanted to do. As a child, I held school for my dad in our family room. I would tote my easel out of the closet and give my dad little reading lessons. Then during the school year my librarian made a special exception where I was allowed to check out two books because I would check out an Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War for the whole year and then I'd check out another book that I would switch out as I finished it. I would keep the Civil War encyclopedia out all year for multiple years in row though because each night I would sit down in the living room and read it to my dad. History and education have been a crucial part of my life from even that young an age.

As I grew up, I distinguished myself as a leader in my history classes and often times would bring in supplementary materials from home for my teachers and lead classroom discussions. I distinctly remember being elected the unofficial president of my junior year Advanced Placement US History class as my classmates joked that if they ever didn't know an answer they just had to ask me. In college I would lead study groups for my classmates until eventually the school asked me to be an official tutor. After multiple years of tutoring, they asked me to be a supplementary instructor for the history department.

While tutoring, I conducted my student teaching at Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, North Carolina where I taught the senior American History 2 class that started after the Reconstruction Era. I taught both the honors and standard level classes. After graduation, both mine and theirs, I moved to Texas to start a teaching career in the Lone Star State. I substitute taught for Lewisville ISD before finding a full time position at Westlake Academy, IB World School.

At Westlake Academy I taught DP History of the Americas, a dual aligned IB and AP US history class, and Grade 8 Humanities, aligned with the Texas grade 8 Social Studies curriculum. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when my boyfriend was diagnosed with Leukemia so in March I had to step down as a full time teacher temporarily and return to substituting to better enable me to facilitate his care and recovery. Nevertheless, as his health improves, it is my hope to return to the classroom full time and resume living my teacher dream.