Teaching
Since 2007 I have been teaching students in a wide variety of ages and settings: I’ve been a graduate assistant teaching composition; an English as a Foreign Language teacher living in Japan, Korea, and France; an instructor at an international school in Guinea; a licensed elementary teacher in Kansas; and an online tutoring and microschool teacher helping students all around the world.
I earned a Bachelor and Master of Arts in English from Truman State University, where I focused on creative writing and American literature. I went on to earn a Master of Education degree from George Mason University, graduating from the prestigious international-focused Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Learners program. My work at GMU emphasized issues of equity and representation in the elementary social studies classroom, for which I was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2017.
Informed by my international experience and my continuing training, my teaching philosophy is based on the central principle of empowering students to fully engage with their lifelong educational process. It was with this mission in mind that I co-founded Philomath Microschool with my colleague Erin Smith in 2022.
Students attending our virtual school program at Philomath Microschool enjoy a wide range of student-centered learning activities that prioritize self-driven engagement over assessment. For example, this year our Independent Study ELA students completed an interactive reader’s journal while engaging with a grade-level novel of their choice, then adapted a scene from their novel into a fully self-produced puppet show. Meanwhile, in my tutoring sessions with students of all ages and levels, I provide research-backed activities to help every student achieve their unique personal goals in writing, reading, math, and more.
A text about the history of the Middle Ages written in the style of a Medieval illuminated manuscript by a 4th grade student at Philomath Microschool.