I am grateful to be a member of the Deeper Learning Conference and NCIE Events team at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. My passion in this work lies in the hope that we, as educators, can create transformative learning experiences for educators so they can design those same transformative learning experience with students. After graduating from the University of Virginia, I worked in a variety of school settings as both a teacher and coach. I taught for two years in the Peace Corps in Namibia. This was a life-changing experience for me because until the Peace Corps I had never considered teaching as a career. After two years of teaching in a rural setting in Namibia, I made connections with students that still impact me to this day. And I realized that I wanted to serve kids as an educator. As a K12 teacher, I taught in Fluvanna County (VA), the Dominican Republic, and High Tech High for a total of 17 years. In my classroom, we approached controversial and heavy topics, but I always tried to bring creativity, fun, and playfulness into my work with students. That is still important to me today as most of my work has shifted to working with adults.
Through High Tech High GSE, I have been able to serve as a Professional Learning Coordinator, Director of Pedagogy and Innovation, and an Instructional Coach. I have worked with our Deeper Learning Conference team for more than a decade. Through our Deeper Learning Global network, I have had the opportunity to travel around the US and Internationally to lead professional development and coach teams of teachers in PBL and Deeper Learning. The things that get me fired up in working with adults are the same things that got me fired up with working with students. I want to work in a team where we are all growing together as learners — where we take “our hats off” and can bring our authentic selves to the work. This can be messy sometimes, but working on a team where everyone feels supported and inspired is really important to me. I feel honored to collaborate with such an inspirational team of educators through our NCIE network and our Deeper Learning Conference!
