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Work experience

Middle School English Language Arts Teacher

2018Present
Cadillac Area Public Schools
  • Develop highly engaging activities and lessons that are aligned with curriculum,  and Common Core Standards
  • Technology committee member to assist in district policies and decisions regarding new and current technology
  • Maintain classroom and building social media  accounts to document learning in action and offer parents another venue to connect with their child's learning
  • Extra curricular: teach after school tutoring sessions, volunteer for Activity Nights, co-teach after school Podcast Club
  • Encourage and welcome parents to volunteer in the classroom and in the school on a regular basis; coordinate and organize activities for parent volunteers. Utilize parent interests/talents/careers when applicable
  • Organize grade level field trips 
  • Participate in grade level Professional Teams: review data, curriculum/pacing, share ideas and best practices, create & implement unit goals/scales,  and develop common assessments
  • Establish classroom routines that incorporate plenty of movement, music, and "brain breaks".
  • Implement after school tutoring sessions / clubs 

Exchange Student Area Representative

2022Present
American Scandinavian Student Exchange (ASSE)
  • Place high school foreign exchange students with caring and capable local families for a year long experience in the greater Cadillac and Traverse City Area. 
  • Liaison between ASSE and local high school for student enrollment, transcripts, student performance, and participation 
  • Take students on unique American experiences (occasional day or weekend trips)
  • Counsel & assist host family and exchange student throughout placement in regards to transition, culture shock, homesickness, reverse culture shock/departure, learning experiences, and other topics involved with the exchange experience.
  • Maintain & organize student paperwork: application, health records, school records, arrival/departure flight information, etc. 
  • Provide monthly well checks and in-person meetings with host family and student. Document monthly visits in the system database.

English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher

20192021
GoGoKid
  • Obtained TESOL Certification
  • Taught online synchronous English language courses to Chinese students 4 years - 16 years old 
  • Implemented predesigned curriculum + skills as a certified reading teacher to build reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in young learners. 
  • Document student progress within the database
  • Conferenced with parents and/or Chinese teachers regarding student progress and academic needs
  • Developed excellent rapport among teachers and students to build a clientele. Some students booked my classes regularly for a year or more, depending on schedule availability.

Vice President

2017Present
Merrill's Automotive Service & Tire Center (family owned and operated)
  • Assist in operations when needed
  • Create employee handbook & literature 
  • Employee payroll 
  • Manage social media, marketing, and advertising 
  • Website design & maintenance
  • Hire and coordinate with graphic artist for company logo and branding materials/files
  • Partner with local Career Tech Center for automotive student on the job training 
  • Coordinate local community engagement and volunteer opportunities

First Grade Teacher

Aug 20122018
Cadillac Area Public Schools
  • Develop highly engaging activities and lessons that are aligned with curriculum,  Michigan GLCEs and Common Core
  • Serve as a technology leader both district wide and at the building level. Offer support to staff on technology usage and troubleshooting and ways to integrate technology into lessons. Find creative solutions to integrate technology and find hands on experiences for students with limited resources and devices. 
  • Technology committee member to assist in district policies and decisions regarding new and current technology
  • Reading Series Review committee member to aide in feedback and professional recommendation of district purchase of reading series textbooks K-4th grade. 
  • Assist students in maintaining blog/digital portfolios and digital writing experiences - students are connected with all first grade peers and teachers, as well as parents/family members that choose to write and respond
  • Maintain classroom and building social media  accounts to document learning in action and offer parents another venue to connect with their child's learning
  • Extra curricular: teach after school tutoring sessions, volunteer at school Title 1 Nights, Fun Night, Talent Show, Co-teach Upper Ele tech club
  • Encourage and welcome parents to volunteer in the classroom and in the school on a regular basis; coordinate and organize activities for parent volunteers. Utilize parent interests/talents/careers when applicable
  • Created and implemented two successful, fun, and innovative first grade, common core and GLCE's aligned, cross curricular Animal Research units for science, reading, writing, and technology - which included a virtual Skype field trip for 50 students to the Key West Aquarium in Key West, Florida, Virtual Field Trips, and a Live, interactive Safari Virtual Field Trip
  • Participate in grade level Professional Teams: review data, curriculum/pacing, share ideas and best practices, work on SMART goals, scales, and develop common assessments
  • School Improvement Team member 2012-2014
  • Created integrated Science and Social Studies aligned "Florida Project": teamed up with first grade classroom in Florida for Skype sessions for students to work in pairs and small groups to explore and compare subgroups: weather/climate, land/water, school life, and families. Units were aligned to meet State Standards and benchmarks and Common Core requirements for each classroom respectively 
  • Implement Daily 5 framework in a balanced literacy approach 
  • Offer plenty of movement and music opportunities "brain breaks"

Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) Teacher

Aug 2009Aug 2012
Cadillac Area Public Schools
  • Utilized the Teaching Strategies GOLD curriculum to plan and develop engaging and hands-on activities, lessons, and centers for all types of learners. 
  • Participated in a district wide consortium for the development of goals, education, and resources for local Early Childhood Education. 
  • Supervised, collaborated, and co-taught with full time paraprofessional 
  • Created custom anecdotal notes system to track the milestones and progress of each child on a daily basis. Entered data into GOLD weekly as part of the progress monitoring system. 
  • Participated in weekly grade-level meetings with all GSRP teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrator/director 
  • Assisted parents/families in letter writing initiatives  to State Representatives regarding funding issues that put our program and enrollment in jeopardy each year 
  • Created informational commercial for our local ISD regarding the GSRP program and the importance of early childhood education and interventions: Top 20 Reasons to Promote Early Childhood Education
  • Participated in district Wellness Committee and rolled out 5210 campaign at building level. Created school wide healthy initiative challenges, as well as integrated 5210 lessons and activities into the curriculum. Helped PreK & Junior Kdg. students create video to document their learning of understanding of what makes a happy, healthy, heart and body
  • Conducted home visits 2 times/year as parent-teacher conferences, and 1 conference in the classroom each year. Home visits consisted of family activity and important individual child updates, as well as building the rapport with parents as partners in education and creating a positive first school experience for parents and child 
  • Provided monthly playgroups for district wide GSRP families. Activities were designed and implemented by all GSRP teaching staff and paraprofessionals in cooperation with the local MSU extension office for the health/nutrition component 
  • Integrate age-appropriate use of technology, as well ad build my own use of technology on a daily basis: created classroom blog, teacher website, use social media to further my understanding/usage of technology in meaningful ways and connect with educators world wide. 
  • Offer engaging experiences relevant to the curriculum and real world: such as - hatching chicks every spring, inviting guest speakers for career exploration (set up dramatic play to match featured guest so students can extend learning and deepen understanding during free play)
  • Incorporate music, movement, and art into the schedule daily - both structured and un-structured 
  • School Improvement Team member
  • Attend monthly RtI Meetings and created data driven instruction for Tier 1 and Tier 2 students, collaborated with RtI members on focus and best practice strategies for core Tier 1 students - with consideration of DIBELS, MLPP, MAISA writing , Delta and progress monitoring. Work closely with Reading Specialist and paraprofessional for Title 1 push-in services and weekly small group skill based focus lessons in reading.
  • Teach  and plan for enrichment group (42 students) for reading instruction beyond phonics and skill based learning 
  • Administer DIBELS 3x's/year with a team of teachers and ISD members for our K-4 building

Kindergarten Teacher

Aug 2008Aug 2009
Cadillac Area Public Schools
  • Developed engaging lessons, centers, and hands-on activities for all content areas based on State standards and objectives using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and Bloom's for Higher Order Thinking
  • Differentiated instruction based on interest and/or ability so that each learner was engaged and excited about the learning process and set up for individual success
  • Utilized Brain Gym movement and exercises on a daily basis
  • Collaborated with grade level partners weekly on lessons and activities based on our scope and sequence - shared ideas, resources, and departmentalized/shared teaching of writing/science/social studies 
  • Participated in Anti-Bullying committee, creation of K-6 behavior rubrics for on campus and bus incidents, assisted at the building level for roll-out and implementation/training of program to teaching staff and support staff based on the training & works of Dr. Marcia McEvoy
  • Attended monthly RtI Meetings and created data driven instruction for Tier 1 and Tier 2 students, collaborated with RtI members on focus and best practice strategies for core Tier 1 students - with consideration of DIBELS, MLPP, Collins Writing and progress monitoring. Worked closely with Reading Specialist  and paraprofessional for Title 1 push-in services and weekly small group skill based focus lessons in reading for Tier 3 instruction
  • Administered DIBELS 3x's/year with a team of teachers and ISD members for our K-5 building
  • Participated on ELA alignment committee with other kindergarten teachers and reading specialists to develop scope and sequence pacing document that was aligned with the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs)
  • Integrated meaningful and relevant field trip experiences to enhance the curriculum such as: visiting local dairy farm to learn about local business/farming, milking process from farm to market, making butter, watched live birth of a calf - which integrated life cycles and comparing features of parent/baby. Many science and social studies standards were integrated into this cross-curricular farming unit. 
  • Provided differentiated, balanced literacy instruction using whole group and small group instruction based on the Harcourt Reading Series, Collins Writing program, and Handwriting Without Tears. Used frameworks and teachings of Debbie Diller's Literacy Workstations, as well as Lucy Caulkin's Writer's Workshop. Leveled reading system used in-class as well as a home connection so that readers were always matched to appropriate level of text. Frequent progress monitoring occurred to ensure reading levels were accurate and that students were making gains.  
  • incorporated and welcomed parent volunteers and visitors into the classroom regularly 
  • Incorporate music and movement daily 

Education

Masters of Educational Technology

Sep 2012unfinished
University of Michigan - Flint

Educational Technology 

Bachelor of Science

Sep 1999May 2008
Baker College of Cadillac

Michigan K-8 Self Contained Classroom

Language Arts 

ZA Endorsement 

Current Professional Roles

  • 6th Grade English Language Arts Teacher - Cadillac Area Public Schools
  • Mentor non-tentured teachers
  • District and building level Technology leader / technology committee member
  • Instructional Learning Team (ILT) Member for grade level
  • After school tutor
  • MACUL member (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning)
  • Social media contributor for the buildings I have worked in 

Leading Professional Development Trainings for Teachers

  •   MiAEYC: "File Cabinet Rebellion" - going digital and keeping your documents/units organized (Grand Rapids, MI, 2011) 
  • File Cabinet Rebellion (February 2012, Cadillac Area Public Schools District In-Service)
  • Daily 5 in the Primary Classroom - a showcase of Daily 5 stations in action (Wexford-Missaukee ISD, 2012) 
  • The 1-iPad Classroom (November 2013, Wexford Missaukee ISD District In-Service)
  • iPads in the Classroom (February 2014, Cadillac Area Public Schools District In-Service)
  • EdCamp NoMI "How to create for Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT)" (January 2015)
  • EdCamp NoMI "Apps Galore and Flipped Classroom Model" (January 2015)
  • Google Drive (Cadillac Area Public Schools, 2015)
  • Easy and Effective Communication Using Social Media (Nov. 2, 2015, Wexford-Misaukee ISD District Wide Inservice)
  • Michigan Association of Computers in Learning (MACUL, March 2018): "Tech Tools for Upping Your Learning Game" and "Blended Learning Panel Discussion" with Michigan Virtual
  • Schoology Learning Management System (LSM) - collaborate with other tech leaders and our IT department to implement three year roll out plan for staff and student use of Schoology as a pandemic response to remote, hybrid, and virtual education. Spent a full summer training staff PreK-12th grades to build courses, design lesson, assessments, and create a fully functioning online classroom platform. Collaborated and created user-friendly tutorials, training videos, literature/how-to guides, etc. for staff, students/parents, and administrative assistants for the six buildings within our school district K-12. 

Professional Development

2009 

  • Teacher as a professional
  • Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 

2010

  • Story Time Slime
  • Preschool Quality Assessment (PQA)

2011-2012

  • Meeting Students Where They Are 
  • The 21 Century Educator 
  • Michigan Collaborative Early Childhood Conference
  • Challenging Behaviors in Preschool Children 
  • Foundations of Technology in Education
  • Reading Assessment Elementary
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Heads UP! Concussions in Youth Sports 

2012-2013

  • Microsoft Office Training/Tech
  • Increasing Student Engagement at the Elementary Level 
  • The Highly Engaged Classroom 
  • Innovation and Engagement 
  • Math Shifts and the Common Core
  • A Data Driven Culture 
  • School Improvement Goal and Strategy Development 
  • Vocabulary and Writing Across the Curriculum 
  • Reading in the Content Area 
  • Differentiated Reading 
  • Technology Skills for Educators
  • MACUL
  • Bloodborn Pathogens
  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports

2014-2015

  • MACUL
  • Google Training Academy
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports 


2015-16

  • Marzano Goals and Scales
  • Bloodborne Pathogens 
  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports
  • Multi Tier System of Supports (MTSS, formerly RtI) by Kim St. Martin (District Provided Professional Development/DPPD). 

2016-17

  • 2016-2017 New Teacher Mentor - 1st Semester
  • GoogleFEST 2016
  • Blended It's Elementary
  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports
  • Bloodborne Pathogens 

2017-18

  • learn.BLEND.lead. (1 year cohort) 
  • 2018 MACUL Conference: Learning Forward
  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports
  • Bloodborne Pathogens 
  • CKLA-Phonics Instruction and/or Read Alouds with Instructional Coaches
  • Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) & Instructional Learning Teams (ILTs)

2018-19

  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports
  • CKLA Strengthening Instruction 3-5 June Session
  • Bloodborne Pathogens 
  • Trauma Training 
  • Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) & Instructional Learning Teams (ILTs)

2019-22

  • Heads Up! Concussions in Youth Sports
  • Bloodborne Pathogens 
  • Teaming in Middle School 
  • Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) & Instructional Learning Teams (ILTs)