Hello parents and students! Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year. I am so excited to be teaching 6th grade Math and Science at eAcademy this year! This is my second year at this school, and I am looking forward to meeting all of you and learning along with you this year.
I have always been passionate about learning and growing as a student. My mom was a teacher, and my older sister is currently a teacher, so I have been in the classroom helping out for as long as I can remember. Through the years, not all subjects were easy for me and I spent many hours studying, but I persevered through and my hard work paid off. I graduated from college in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Science is a subject that I have always been fascinated with, so I really enjoyed my coursework, even though some of those Chemistry and Physics labs were tough! Immediately after graduating from college, I entered into a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential program because I was passionate about teaching young students what it means to persevere and overcome obstacles in order to reach their educational goals.
In 1997 I was hired as a second grade teacher at Colton Joint Unified School District. I worked with English Language Learners, and it was so rewarding to witness my students become more comfortable with the English language, and to overcome obstacles of the language barrier. I married my husband, Gary, in 2000 and in 2001 we moved out of state so my husband could attend graduate school at the University of Washington. I worked in the Biology department at the university, and loved being in a higher education setting- so completely different from teaching my second graders!
In 2002, our first child was born, and I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. While raising kids, I was a substitute teacher on occasion and volunteered in my children’s classrooms. When my daughter was in sixth grade, she was attending a public school in Yucaipa, and she began to feel very anxious about going to school for various reasons. She asked several times to be homeschooled, and my husband and I agreed to allow her to do that. She began homeschooling in seventh grade through a charter school, and it has been a very positive experience for her. She is thriving in this educational environment, and I am so thankful that there are these options for students.
In 2017, I decided to go back to teaching part-time, and taught Adult Education in Yucaipa for the last four years. This was my first time teaching in an alternative education setting, and I found a great love for helping adults achieve educational success by preparing them to take credit-based courses toward their high school diploma. In April 2021, I achieved a goal I had been wanting to accomplish for a while, but was waiting for the right timing: I completed my Master of Education in Learning and Technology!
When I am not teaching or planning lessons, I really enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I love reading, swimming, water skiing, taking walks on the beach, and sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows.
I am so excited and honored to teach at eAcademy because I feel it is meeting such a great need in our students today. I can’t wait to meet you all. See you soon!
Blended Teachers in 6th 