About

I am a teacher instigator. Innovative. Wild reader. Problem solver. Relationship driven. Blending tried and true education practices with new thinking and technology. I am passionate about teaching AND being a life-long learner. 

Like teachers everywhere, I am a teaching designer. I design for myself and my kids, not everyone. Teaching is an art and a team / collaborative effort. We learn from one another, better one another, and challenge one another. We limit our potential when we go it alone.

If you are bored with what you're teaching, your students will be too. If you're engaged and excited about what you're teaching, your kids will be too. As teachers we need to find what we are passionate about to engage ourselves in our teaching and our students in their learning. For me, that's relationships, collaboration, and culture, especially when embedded in literacy instruction.

I am here on my blog and Teachers Pay Teachers to create high quality resources that allow teachers to spend more time focusing on what's important. Their students. My goal is to provide resources to simply support teachers in all the great things they are already doing or working to implement based on research and best practices.

Over the past fourteen years I've shifted between third and fourth grade in three different school districts. Upper elementary has my heart, for sure. Currently I'm teaching fourth grade in my home district and loving every second of it. I've completed a Masters in Education an taken more continuing ed classes than I can count, and I've worked in many teacher leader roles ranging from building leadership teams to curriculum committees to leading training for teachers to facilitating grad classes and collaboration. I don't pretend to know it all, but I do work diligently, daily to improve my practice and the education I provide for my students. I'm thrilled that you are here!