Teach BeTween the Lines

I have taught for nine years at a variety of different levels. I began my career at the elementary level, but quickly found a passion for teaching at the middle school level. Working with 7th and 8th graders within the English Language Arts curricula was profoundly fulfilling. Recently, I have been called to teach at the high school level, now working with 9th and 10th grade students. Within these few short years of my teaching career, I have run the gamut of grade level work, creating new curriculum nearly every year. Though exhausting, I have grown extremely proud of my work, and hope to help other teachers avoid some of the strenuous work involved in creating original, meaningful, personalized curriculum students can connect with at the deepest levels.

Within the last few years, I have become increasingly interested in taking differentiated learning to a new level within a personalized learning platform. This is a relatively new style of teaching that encourages students to drive their learning as they select the methods of learning; the content as well as pacing of said content, and finally choice in the assessment tools as well. The teacher steps aside to become the coach and mentor as opposed to lecturer or sole deliverer of knowledge. Students take on significant responsibility, giving them a stake in their own education. This ownership motivates and empowers learners to excel, while simultaneously allowing them to discover the ways in which they learn best—thus putting 21st century skills in their hands, as well as providing them the tools needed to use those skills. While this was certainly an overwhelming ideology initially, and though it felt at times that the journey created more questions than answers, I have finally made the leap into this platform, and wish to assist others on their journey in this methodology.

I have received a few awards in technology driven education, personalized learning, and Reading Apprenticeship- a reading program for struggling learners.

K-5 Licensure from Minnesota State University, Mankato 6-8 Licensure in Communication Arts and Literature from Minnesota State University, Mankato 9-12 Licensure in Communication Arts and Literature- Bethel University Master’s in Teaching and Learning from St. Mary’s University

I have a wonderful family; a loving husband, and two children. We live in Minnesota, and we do narrowly survive the treacherous Minnesota winters every year. I enjoy reading and running- though generally not at the same time; I try to run two half-marathons a year—yes, I do this for fun! It also really helps to burn off that extra stress that comes with this unique, rewarding, and often challenging profession. I enjoy writing in my spare time, which is admittedly very hard to come by these days. I am hoping to eventually cross writing a novel off my bucket list, perhaps I’ll even attempt to publish this work, though that does seem a touch frightening. Of course, I would love to be a successful TpT seller as well as an engaging blogger. For now, I’ll just keep plucking away at these life goals bit by bit… and with a little luck, a lot of prayer, and what little free time I manage to wrangle for myself, I’ll find some success with these endeavors!