My History….
When I was a youngster, I spent most of my free time in my "Wonder Woman" Costume, outside in the East Texas heat. Pretending that I was a "Wonder Woman Acrobat" with the circus, doing "death-defying" tricks on my little swing set in the backyard is one of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood. Though I tried to get away with my antics as "Wonder Woman", including tying my younger brother up with my Lasso (jumprope) and doing "Penny Drops" off the 6 foot pole of my swing set, my efforts seemed to always be thwarted by my wise and loving mother. During these early days I also thought that I could make a parachute out of my parents' queen-sized flat sheet but, luckily, I couldn't figure out a way to climb up to the peak of the roof of the house over the garage to jump and land "softly" onto the driveway. Sometimes, it is good that we don't always get what we want. I think my growing up in flat, dry, brown, treeless, East Texas might've saved my life a number of times. Even now as an adult, I get a rush from the idea of climbing and jumping off of high things. I can't imagine what might've happened to me in my younger days had I grown up with a tree in my yard!
Leaving Texas at age 9 between third and fourth grade was one of the toughest events for me. I left a small, country school where I knew everybody and moved to Upstate New York. I learned quickly what it felt like to be different: to dress differently than others, have different tastes in music/food and what I thought was "cool" than the main culture. Being called "cowgirl" took on a different meaning than it had when I'd lived in Texas where I'd felt it a privilege to be referenced that way. At the age of 12 I learned that saying, "ma'am" could land me in detention so I quickly assimilated and dropped all of my Southern Linguistic Charms when away from home. I quickly learned that the need for assimilation into a new culture would not only make my life easier, but would help me develop friendships and come to be better understood by the surrounding culture. Moving to New York was one of the hardest, yet best things, that could've happened to me. I guess what can't be understood forwards can always be better understood when looked at backwards.
Once I got used to being a "Yankee" I grew to love it. I finished high school and then decided to return to my family's roots by attending college in North Carolina. After having a very inspiring high school English teacher, I started down the road of being an English Major, but I soon realized that I enjoyed working with young children. The flexible, spontaneous outbursts of what seemed illogical to me but turned out to be quite logical to them, made working with young children very enjoyable and fulfilling. In my early years of college I took general classes that most liberal arts colleges would suggest, to make you more of a "renaissance" minded person. Once I changed majors from English to Elementary Education, the coursework felt like second nature. Though I had to study, a lot of what was taught just seemed to make sense - like a natural inclination. I began to think about the teachers I'd had - the good parts and the not so good parts of them. I asked myself, "What kind of teacher do I wish I would've had?" and ever since then I've tried to be that person- the teacher I wish I'd had.
Upon graduating college I started teaching right away in Wake County- first as a 3rd Grade Class Reduction Specialist, and then as a first grade teacher. After my fourth year of teaching, a kindergarten position opened up at DRES and I have been here ever since. This will be my fifteenth year as a teacher and it has been a wild ride. Even with all of the changes that have happened over the years in education, the driving forces behind my reasons for teaching have been constant. As a lover of learning I have wanted to inspire students to seek truth and learn it for themselves - to crave more understanding and develop a natural curiosity for the world around them. I try to share experiences from world trips with students as they apply to curriculum, with the goal being to demonstrate to students that people, world wide, have the same needs - but perhaps go about fulfilling them in different ways. A house on the ground meets the same overall needs as the house on stilts. A fried chicken nugget meets the same overall needs as fried conch. A game of football meets the same overall need as a game of futbol. We live in an amazing time where we can travel, observe, and ask questions of peoples all around the world. We can learn so much from each other and the need to cooperate, assimilate, and understand is greater each hour as our clocks tick forward.
I hope that as I work to understand your child this year that we can work as a team to encourage him/her to take responsibility for his/her learning and help him/her find that the desire for understanding is one of the most beneficial temperaments for living in our world.
When I was a youngster, I spent most of my free time in my "Wonder Woman" Costume, outside in the East Texas heat. Pretending that I was a "Wonder Woman Acrobat" with the circus, doing "death-defying" tricks on my little swing set in the backyard is one of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood. Though I tried to get away with my antics as "Wonder Woman", including tying my younger brother up with my Lasso (jumprope) and doing "Penny Drops" off the 6 foot pole of my swing set, my efforts seemed to always be thwarted by my wise and loving mother. During these early days I also thought that I could make a parachute out of my parents' queen-sized flat sheet but, luckily, I couldn't figure out a way to climb up to the peak of the roof of the house over the garage to jump and land "softly" onto the driveway. Sometimes, it is good that we don't always get what we want. I think my growing up in flat, dry, brown, treeless, East Texas might've saved my life a number of times. Even now as an adult, I get a rush from the idea of climbing and jumping off of high things. I can't imagine what might've happened to me in my younger days had I grown up with a tree in my yard!
Leaving Texas at age 9 between third and fourth grade was one of the toughest events for me. I left a small, country school where I knew everybody and moved to Upstate New York. I learned quickly what it felt like to be different: to dress differently than others, have different tastes in music/food and what I thought was "cool" than the main culture. Being called "cowgirl" took on a different meaning than it had when I'd lived in Texas where I'd felt it a privilege to be referenced that way. At the age of 12 I learned that saying, "ma'am" could land me in detention so I quickly assimilated and dropped all of my Southern Linguistic Charms when away from home. I quickly learned that the need for assimilation into a new culture would not only make my life easier, but would help me develop friendships and come to be better understood by the surrounding culture. Moving to New York was one of the hardest, yet best things, that could've happened to me. I guess what can't be understood forwards can always be better understood when looked at backwards.
Once I got used to being a "Yankee" I grew to love it. I finished high school and then decided to return to my family's roots by attending college in North Carolina. After having a very inspiring high school English teacher, I started down the road of being an English Major, but I soon realized that I enjoyed working with young children. The flexible, spontaneous outbursts of what seemed illogical to me but turned out to be quite logical to them, made working with young children very enjoyable and fulfilling. In my early years of college I took general classes that most liberal arts colleges would suggest, to make you more of a "renaissance" minded person. Once I changed majors from English to Elementary Education, the coursework felt like second nature. Though I had to study, a lot of what was taught just seemed to make sense - like a natural inclination. I began to think about the teachers I'd had - the good parts and the not so good parts of them. I asked myself, "What kind of teacher do I wish I would've had?" and ever since then I've tried to be that person- the teacher I wish I'd had.
Upon graduating college I started teaching right away in Wake County- first as a 3rd Grade Class Reduction Specialist, and then as a first grade teacher. After my fourth year of teaching, a kindergarten position opened up at DRES and I have been here ever since. This will be my fifteenth year as a teacher and it has been a wild ride. Even with all of the changes that have happened over the years in education, the driving forces behind my reasons for teaching have been constant. As a lover of learning I have wanted to inspire students to seek truth and learn it for themselves - to crave more understanding and develop a natural curiosity for the world around them. I try to share experiences from world trips with students as they apply to curriculum, with the goal being to demonstrate to students that people, world wide, have the same needs - but perhaps go about fulfilling them in different ways. A house on the ground meets the same overall needs as the house on stilts. A fried chicken nugget meets the same overall needs as fried conch. A game of football meets the same overall need as a game of futbol. We live in an amazing time where we can travel, observe, and ask questions of peoples all around the world. We can learn so much from each other and the need to cooperate, assimilate, and understand is greater each hour as our clocks tick forward.
I hope that as I work to understand your child this year that we can work as a team to encourage him/her to take responsibility for his/her learning and help him/her find that the desire for understanding is one of the most beneficial temperaments for living in our world.