Education & Experience:
I have a BA in Anthropology/Geology from SIUC and have taken several graduate-level classes in City Planning and Geographical Informational Systems. I love maps, old bones, and interpreting how people preceding written history lived and how their history can be seen on and within the landscape on which we now live. I worked as an Archaeological field/lab technician and attended graduate school in Columbus, OH before moving to Marshall in 2002. After moving to Marshall, I started a small farm raising dairy goats, chickens, and ducks. I grew produce for farmers' markets, baked for local businesses, and made handmade paper from excess produce plant fibers. I began my teaching career at HSCLC in the after-school program in 2009. I continued my path with HSCLC for many years and taught in many capacities while there including teaching with Ms. Lou in transitional kindergarten, summer camp counselor, and after-school teacher. When WBNS opened its doors, I gladly signed on as the Agriculture Specials Teacher and Livestock Coordinator, adding goats, rabbits, and chickens to the school grounds.
Teaching Philosophy:
For me teaching is not showing a child how to do something, that’s training, but inspiring children to teach themselves is invaluable. Acknowledging and uplifting every student's potential to learn as well as their potential to teach is a value I hold high for myself. I value the belief that educating children outdoors through nature is an irreplaceable experience that all children deserve. The popular bumper sticker says it simply, “Children grow better outside.”
“As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.” Valerie Andrews
Favorite thing about kids:
Their inquisitive and curious minds and how they naturally interpret the world through play.
Favorite thing about working at WBNS: Having the freedom to explore and experiment with an assortment of multi-sensory teaching strategies and being able to teach within our natural outdoor world. And working with an amazing group of teachers and families also makes teaching at WBNS exceptional!