About Room 15
My goal as a teacher is to encourage students to be curious about the world around them and have respectful interactions with others as they develop their unique talents and creative imaginations. It's important to me to create a kind, nurturing, positive, safe, and learning-rich classroom community where students are intrinsically motivated, rather than extrinsically driven. My hope is that students will be active participants in their own education as they collaborate with and care for others. I strive to provide a third grade experience that taps into, nourishes, and encourages students' innate curiosity about the world around them so they seek out opportunities to follow their interests in and out of school. Finally, I want to create the conditions in which students can become engaged with challenging, interesting academic tasks. I will encourage them to try new things, risk making mistakes, think rigorously, solve problems, and have a growth mindset where they realize they can increase their knowledge and improve and master tasks by using effort and persistence as they work hard at learning.
On a personal note, this is my thirty-second year of teaching students in the Granite School District. I have a master's degree in education from Westminster College, a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Utah State University, and an endorsement in educating gifted and talented learners. My husband, Keith, and I are the parents of two daughters: Olivia, a ninth grader at Skyline High School and Isabel, a junior at the University of Utah majoring in chemical engineering. When I'm not teaching I can be found biking, hiking, or skiing in the Wasatch Mountains, running around Sugar House Park, reading, gardening, traveling, or learning how to play the violin.