The Word Nerd

I have been teaching for 15 years. Most of these years have been spent in a 6th grade reading classroom, enjoying the blood, sweat and tears that goes along with teaching middle schoolers. I am currently a writing instructor at a local technical college. I am also the author of eleven books ranging from picture books all the way up to adult feel-good women's fiction. I would love to share my teaching and writing experience with you and make you the crazy,hard,rewarding, insane, why-did-I-sign-up-for-this job we call teaching just a little bit easier.

I have a balanced literacy approach and love introducing students to the wide world of books and reading. I believe in reading and writing everyday and that it is my job to make my students love words just a little bit more than they did before they met me.

I have earned awards as an online writer for Yahoo.com, facilitated writer's workshops across the Midwest and presented to University pre-teaching students.

I have earned a BS education degree from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and a Masters in Education from Viterbo University. I also hold a Wisconsin #316 Reading license.

I have a lot of experience creating unit plans for novels at a variety of reading levels. I like working with Powerpoint, Publisher, Google Slides and Canva to create quality materials and learning opportunities for my students. If you are looking for someone to help you with these types of projects or any other freelance writing endeavors, please contact me! Happy teaching!!