Introduction
Hello & Welcome!
Welcome to my blog, or for some of you, my reboot blog. I wanted to take some time in my first blog post to introduce myself and tell you about some of my passions in life. This year (2017), I will be entering into my fifth year of teaching (yikes, wasn’t I just graduating from college?!). I have taught both first and second grade and have loved them both! I also have taught seventh and eighth grade summer school. My teaching experiences have been spread out throughout Boston, Ohio, Illinois, Philadelphia and New Zealand. I have even visited classrooms in Luxemburg, Austria and Switzerland. To say that I am passionate about teaching is an understatement! I have loved every age and every experience that I have had, but I must say that I am the happiest in my second grade classroom outside of Denver.
Originally, I grew up in Naperville, Illinois, which is a suburb right outside of Chicago. I went to college at Miami of Ohio, which is in between Cincinnati and Dayton, where I received my undergrad in Early Childhood Education with minors in special education, teaching english language learners and child studies. I then spent a summer teaching summer school in Philadelphia, and eventually moved to Boston to teach first grade. After a while, I decided that I missed being able to spend a lot of time outside and wanted a change in pace, so I decided to move out west, after all, “west is best,” right?!
Currently, I live in Denver, Colorado with my husband and my fur baby Cooper. Cooper is an almost four year old beagle who is as naughty as it gets! His favorite hobbies are growling at passerby (all bark, no bite!), taking naps on our pillows, ripping up the trash and breaking into his food bucket. My husband, Ian, is just about one of the greatest teacher husband a girl could ask for! I am very blessed to have two great boys in my life, and cannot wait to grow our family someday.
When we are not busy chasing Cooper or cleaning up his messes, we love to be outside. Ian and I are both active runners, hikers and skiers. We also love to travel. This past summer I was lucky enough to travel around the world! We started local, traveling to Cleveland and Chicago, then I went to Venice Italy and Greece on a girls trip with one of my best friends from college. After that trip, I was lucky enough to spend a weekend camping in Colorado with some coworkers, then we took our honeymoon to Alaska and Hawaii. After that, I was at #tptoc17 in Anaheim, California! So much fun! We have a few more trips planned to Columbus, Ohio for a wedding for another amazing friend from college, and then we will be happy to be spending some quality time at home until Christmas… or at least that is the current plan! I have to say that my favorite place was definitely Alaska.
Now that you know a little bit about me, I just want to let you know my intentions for my blog. As a teacher blogger, I really hope to share some of the insights and ups and downs of my classroom so that you can learn and grow and laugh and cry along with me! I am very passionate about what I do, but also passionate about helping others become better at what they do. As a fifth year teacher, I by NO means have all of the answers and am constantly learning and making mistakes and growing from these mistakes. But, I also know that I have a lot to offer and would love to have you take apart of my learning adventure with me!
Thank you for listening to me. I would love if you introduced yourself in the comments below.