Teachers Always Have Class

I have been teaching and working with children from ages 3 to 8 years old for over 12 years. Although this is only a diminutive time teaching children, they have continuously enriched my life. On the exterior side of the classroom, my involvement with children continues as I part take on The Sylvia and Herbert Scholarship Foundation Committee. For over ten years, I have had the opportunity in helping to send high school students to the college of their dreams. My experiences have involved me with children of many ages and through time have deepened my life, having an influential impact on me in becoming a teacher.

My teaching style is inspired through The Reggio Amilia Approach. The Reggio Emilia approach uses an emergent curriculum that is developed and guided by the children's interests. Children engage in long-term small-group and large-group projects, which involve hands-on investigation, finding the answers to questions, reading about a topic, visiting sites or places, talking to experts and visually representing their learning through a variety of medium. I also keep in mind the standards of Child Readiness in creating lesson plans and activities that will help my children be prepared for school readiness.

Child Development Association: Certification New York State Teacher Certification: Certification New York State Teacher Assistant Certification New York Alumni Chapter Club: President Herbert & Sylvia Scholarship Committee Delta Sigma Theta Sorority After – School Director for Sisulu – Walker Charter School of Harlem Cool Culture Advocate - Engaging and Encouraging Parents to visit Cultural Institutions Creator and Director of Sisulu – Walker’s First School Yearbook Co-Curricular Developer

Learning with Arts Workshop: The Arts in Education (AIE) Program at Harvard Graduate School Finding Voice Workshop: The Arts in Education (AIE) Program at Harvard Graduate School Creating a sequential art curriculum based on working with materials that fosters creative thinking: Bank Street College, New York The Reggio Emilia Approach: From Theory to Practice: Bank Street College, New York Learning through Objects: Museums and Young Children, Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C Exploring and Implementing MAKESHOP! in the classrooms: The Children’s Museum in Pittsburgh Hands – on Science Teacher Impact Workshop at Liberty Science Center in New Jersey Open Court Reading Training at the McGraw Hill Companies, New York, NY Creative Hands – on Workshop at the Staten Island Children’s Museum Children’s Education at the Garden at the Bronx Botanical Garden Making the Most of Small Groups Training with Debbie Diller ~ Differentiating Instruction for Struggling Students: Reading First ~ Waterford Training ~ DIEBELS Training ~ Cool Culture Training ~ The Responsive Classroom Training ~ Core Knowledge Implementation Workshops

Self-Published Educational Books: Early Art Practices & Literacy Development: Integrating Literacy and Language with Art An Early Childhood Guide to Lesson Plans: A Year of Creative Lesson Plans