I received my Associates of Arts in General Education from Nash Community College (Rocky Mount, NC), my Bachelors of Science in Middle Grades Education with a Specialization in English and History from East Carolina University (Greenville, NC), and received my Masters of Science in Education with a Specialization in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS). I am currently pursuing my Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix (Phoenix, AZ).

In addition to these things, I am licensed as a Teacher in the state of North Carolina. Also, I am finalizing steps to become a licensed Administrator and Curriculum Supervisor in the state of North Carolina.

As a current classroom teacher and instructional coach, my areas of interest include Trauma-Informed Educational Settings, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Curriculum/School Reform, Interdisciplinary teaching, and supporting beginning teachers. I have dedicated a lot of my graduate level and doctoral level work around these areas.

I decided to establish Schoolin' Life, LLC because I believe that education is timeless and that it should not be constrained to the walls of public and private institutions. Teachers who love teaching should help people (not just their students) develop a love for life-long learning. Being a life-long learner goes beyond learning simply for degrees and status. Instead, life-long learners apply the information that they learn to the world around them in order to influence the world in which they live.

I believe that TeachingWithTristan, a division of Schoolin' Life, LLC, will help promote the idea of life-long learning while eliminating the barriers and stigmas that often keep individuals from investing in themselves.