The bulk of my experience comes from teaching Spanish Levels I-III. Over the past 21 years, however, I have also taught English 1-2, Exploratory German, Computer Solutions, and I taught via Distance Learning for 14 years. In this way, I sometimes feel like a "Jack of all trades". Outside of the classroom, I served on my district's Spanish Curriculum Committee for 6 years, I have been a member of my school's Principal's Advisory Committee, Student Recognition Committee, Diversity Team, and the school's AVID Site Team. I also coached the Boys Soccer team for 9 seasons and I have sponsored the Forensics and Academic Challenge teams for several years. While my focus has been Spanish Levels I-III, I am certified to teach all levels of Spanish. In my current assignment I teach Spanish Levels II-III and High School English 1-2.
As a foreign language teacher, I promote an interactive classroom and I try to develop all of the communicative modes equally. My instruction is not immersive but the formative and summative assessments that I create are realistic, performance-based, and they promote both cultural and communicative competence. Additionally, my learning plans are UbD based and I routinely include AVID and Kagan strategies.
I have been recognized twice with the "You make a difference Award", and I have been "Tagged by the Superintendent" once.
I have an A.A.in Liberal Arts from Tidewater Community College and a B.A. in Spanish from Old Dominion University with minors in English and Political Science. I also hold an M.A. in Humanities / Interdisciplinary Studies from Old Dominion University and I am a member of the National Spanish and English Honor Societies.
Outside of school I have traveled somewhat extensively. I lived in Germany for 2 years, I have visited Austria, Canada, Ecuador, England, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Monaco, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Peru. It is always my pleasure to share my experiences and the classroom resources that I create with others. Like many of you, I am a life-long learner and I want to collaborate with other professionals in our efforts to provide the most effective instruction possible to our students. I am also a U.S. Veteran and current member of the Civil Air Patrol.
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, Higher Education, Adult Education, Homeschool, Staff, Not Grade Specific
English Language Arts, Reading, Vocabulary, Specialty, Science, Basic Principles, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environment, Social Studies, Elections - Voting, U.S. History, World History, World Languages, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Other (World Language), Physical Education, ESL-EFL-ELL, Geography, Other (Social Studies), Other (ELA), Religion, For All Subjects, Literature, Professional Development, Character Education, General Science, Physical Science, Writing, en francais, Reading Strategies, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Christmas-Chanukah-Kwanzaa, Autumn, Halloween, Winter, The New Year, Valentine's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Black History Month, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Spring, Tools for Common Core, Earth Day, For All Subjects, Summer, Handwriting, For Administrators, Test Preparation, End of Year, Hispanic Heritage Month