Mindful Teacher Rachel

Through Vanderbilt’s Elementary Education program, I progressed through 5 practicums consisting of methods courses and of teaching in over 30 hours of field work every semester in the Metro Nashville area, culminating in a full-time student teaching experience in the Fall of 2019. Throughout my classroom experiences, I have worked with speakers of other languages with a variety of language, literacy, cultural, and educational backgrounds in grades Kindergarten through 4th grade. For example, in Fall 2018, I taught Kindergarten Literacy to Level 1 English Language Learners whose home languages included Spanish and Arabic. In addition, in Fall of 2019, I taught as a general education Kindergarten teacher (all subjects) to students with a wide degree of language abilities and whose home languages included Spanish and Vietnamese. This experience in the United States makes me an ideal candidate to teach English to students of other language backgrounds abroad. I also have a 120+ hour TESOL obtained with classroom experience in Thailand as well as Orton Gillingham Classroom Educator Training

I bring a unique perspective to the classroom because my intersectional studies in Special Education and General Elementary Education. I understand the importance of differentiating instruction to meet student needs and to best support student learning. I have worked with students with learning disabilities as well as students with social and emotional disabilities, which has helped me to implement a variety of creative solutions to help each student meet developmentally appropriate goals in terms of language, literacy, mathematics, and social and emotional learning. Besides my educational and classroom experience, I am a highly-motivated, diligent, independent, organized, and creative teacher. I am constantly striving to reflect on and adapt my practice to incorporate more research-based pedagogical methods and best support individual students’ language needs. I also love to work with and learn from other teachers and education professionals.

Vanderbilt University 2019 - Summa Cum Laude Kappa Delta Pi - Education Honors Society Member

I hold a Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition, I hold teaching certificates in Tennessee, New York, and Georgia. While in college, I also studied Child Development and Special Education. I have completed Orton Gillingham Classroom Educator training.

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