As the new millennium began, so I began my teaching experiences with the 6th and 7th graders in language arts here at All Saints School. I have truly enjoyed helping students develop an appreciation of literature of all sorts, and I am fascinated by the interesting stories and essays the students share with me each year. I initiated our Power of the Pen 7th and 8th grade creative writing teams when I first arrived. I was fortunate for many years to work with so many of our talented students and derived great pleasure from coaching quite a few of them all the way to the state finals at the College of Wooster. The 2009-2010 school year has been a new experience for me working half days, but I am continuing to enjoy the 7th graders in our language arts classes.
Here’s a bit of my personal history: A native of Buffalo, New York, I first came to Cleveland during high school to participate in several youth group conventions and then returned here for college. I graduated from Case Western Reserve University, where I met my husband. I taught in the Cleveland Public Schools for four years before leaving to begin our family. We doubled the size of our family with our first-born surprise of identical twin daughters and added two sons (singles) over the next six very busy and wonderful years!
I eased my way back into my profession by teaching kindergarten in Sunday school for about nine years and then working part time as a substitute teacher in several area public junior and senior high schools, as a tutor after school at Shaker Heights High School, and as a senior high school English teacher at Hillcrest Summer School. When my daughters began college at OSU, I began full time in an eighth grade teaching position at St. Ignatius of Antioch School on Cleveland’s west side, where I spent seven enjoyable years working with both 7th and 8th graders. I also initiated and coached their Power of the Pen creative writing program. In 1999 I switched schools and became part of the All Saints staff, and here I am!
My leisure activities include zumba exercising, touring art museums, reading, traveling, visiting with friends, spending time with our family, and walking at the park. I also enjoy catching up with the lives of my former students whom I happen upon from time to time. My husband is partially retired, so we are enjoying having more time together. Our children are now adults living in three different states, coast to coast, so we have many places to visit! Now that we have also become grandparents, we especially enjoy our visits with our granddaughter! (Thank goodness for webcams! However, they still don’t replace those real hugs.)
For me, making a difference in students’ lives is what teaching is all about – giving them opportunities to express their feelings and ideas, to connect with literature and the arts, and especially to help them find reading pleasurable and writing a creative, meaningful experience.
As the new millennium began, so I began my teaching experiences with the 6th and 7th graders in language arts here at All Saints School. I have truly enjoyed helping students develop an appreciation of literature of all sorts, and I am fascinated by the interesting stories and essays the students share with me each year. I initiated our Power of the Pen 7th and 8th grade creative writing teams when I first arrived. I was fortunate for many years to work with so many of our talented students and derived great pleasure from coaching quite a few of them all the way to the state finals at the College of Wooster. The 2009-2010 school year has been a new experience for me working half days, but I am continuing to enjoy the 7th graders in our language arts classes.