hello there!
I am a recently retired secondary English Language Arts teacher and curriculum designer. I like to make learning active, relevant, and fun while encouraging students to think critically about the world around them. With 30 years of teaching experience, I also want to empower educators – in the classroom, online, and at home- so they can provide the best lessons to their students!
Experience
National Board Certified in English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood, I taught for 27 years years. I’ve taught diverse English classes in grades 6 – 12 and English electives including Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition, Creative Writing, and Journalism. In addition to teaching full-time at a public high school, I have also taught English 101 at the local community college.
Teaching Philosophy
I want my students to be critical thinkers, readers, and writers so they can confidently face the many challenges in our complex society. To help students achieve this goal, I try to make learning relevant and fun, taking into consideration each student’s strengths and needs. Many of my middle school and high school English lessons feature cooperative learning, differentiation, and address the demands of the Common Core Standard. Active learning is paramount in my classroom, and OCBeachTeacher Original Trashketball™ games are some of my most popular teaching resources.
Just for fun
Beach & Books: My happy place is reading by the ocean. Favorite reads include Demon Copperhead, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, and Atmosphere—plus plenty of Elin Hilderbrand for pure beach relaxation.
Home Base: Cooking up new meals, going to the gym, and watching football with my husband and our dog, Gemini.
On the Go: Traveling whenever we get the chance!
wHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OCBEACHTEACHER® teaching tools
American Literature Curriculum
“An absolute life-saver. Excellent writing prompts, great formative questions, and really creative connections between texts that the students found relevant and loved reading. Thank you!” – Catherine
“This was well worth spending the money to have curriculum already created to use in American Lit. It saved me a ton of time, and I loved how the units were organized by theme. I added my own resources and modified some, but great foundation to help guide the year. The paired passages were especially meaningful for students’ critical thinking and writing skills. Thank you” -Nicole
OCBeachTeacher® Original Trashketball™
“Kids love this. I don’t think in 30 years I have seen kids getting crazy over pronoun antecedent practice…” -Kathryn
“One of my students favorite activities. They no longer groan about grammar review. We love to do this on a Friday afternoon.” -Carrie
“My students adored this activity. Not only did it engage my students but it did a really great job at making sure that they understood all the information that they needed to for their quiz the following day.” – Gianna