It was my first time visiting Philadelphia and I was there for the ISTE (International Society for Technology). My mom and daughter had come to Philly to make it a little vacation. There was a little window of time that I had off during lunch and my mom said, “Let’s go to the Barnes Museum.” …
ISTE inspiration for EdTech and teaching teachers
When I stress and feel nervous, I quote Eleanor Roosevelt. “You must do the things you think you cannot do. People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” Her words remind me that it’s normal to be scared but pushing through and jumping in will make …
I only have pies for you
The kitchen is the most joyful room in the house. There is power in making food together because sharing food is the most natural way to connect. Time well spent with a friend in the kitchen is a great way to press the reset button. My friend Kris and I share a love for food…especially …
BBQ chicken…Texas-style!
Big city or small, there is always a large base of Texans who love BBQ. Going to school in Alabama, I spent time enjoying Dreamland BBQ. My husbands parents are outside of Memphis so I also explored Tennessee BBQ. I’m from Denton, Texas and have always enjoyed Texas-style BBQ. I like my sauce slightly spicy and sweetened …
Girl Scout Gold Award: Melanoma Prevention
This is the happy face of a proud Girl Scout earning her Gold Award. My daughter, Zooey, spent a good part of the year working on her final Girl Scout project for her Gold Award. Zooey’s project focused on the education of skin care awareness and melanoma prevention, the disease that we lost my dad …
Advice from an elementary teacher about summer learning
Next year will mark my twenty-fifth year to be an elementary teacher. Parents ask me a lot of questions about how to keep their child learning during the summer. The best thing is to of course enjoy summertime and get in all the family time that school schedules get in the way of. Here are …
Advice from an elementary teacher about summer learningRead More
Dancing at Ivybrook Academy
My dear friend Kris surprised me with a question…”could you come dance at my school for career day?” Of course I said yes! When I grew up, I always said that I wanted to be a ballerina. I’m an educator with a dancer’s heart. The best audiences are always children. I was delighted and can’t …
Cadillac in my closet
My Pilates journey began when I was a freshman in college as a dancer. I knew at eighteen that I’d be practicing Pilates for the rest of my life. Joseph Pilates philosophy on exercise and life align with mine. I earned my Pilates certification in 2003 from Peak and started teaching Pilates on the side …
The importance of having friends at work
Working with my closest friends makes my job a joy. Laughing together every single day makes me excited to get to work. I look forward to the coffee talk, lunch together and celebrating each other’s birthdays. When we have dull professional developments, it’s nice to have someone to look at and make faces. My work …
Beautiful Birthday Books for Children
Celebrating a child’s birthday with their peers brings so much joy. I’m on my twenty-fourth year of being an elementary teacher. For many of those years, we celebrated birthdays with cupcakes. What most elementary teachers do now is much more meaningful than cupcakes. We celebrate with a book. Parents choose a book, wrap it like …
Chicken and biscuit dumplings
There’s a new staple in my pantry…buttermilk biscuits from Biscuit Head. I’m a fan of cozy comfort foods and have previously made them using Parmesan cheese and flour. I was out of Parm and having a snow day with biscuit mix in the pantry…I’ll never do dumplings any other way. They floated on my chicken …
Merge Cube
I’ve been working on my masters at ASU in learning design and technologies. I worked on an applied project and an evaluation in research. I was inspired to research and create an eLearning course on “An Introduction to Merge Cube.” It’s easily accessible and a lot of fun. I’m pushing it out to elementary teachers because it’s the teachers that need to …