My Mission Statement
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A Little About Myself Teaching and working with young people has been a passion of mine for more than 40 years. In 2001, after 26 years of a thoroughly rewarding teaching experience, mostly in Volusia County, Florida with both incredible students, and colleagues, I went on an adventure to teach in Costa Rica, to learn a new language and culture - to become fully immersed and to gain a better understanding and empathy for that culture, and to improve my Spanish skills. I felt that this would help me better reach the diverse population of students that make up most schools in Florida and the United States.
I taught in Costa Rican bi-lingual, internationally diverse schools, Country Day School, St. Mary's, and Blue Valley School, for 16 years and retired from working in educational institutions to tutor, work with home school programs, and to do educational consultation with parents, as well as schools. After 18 years in Costa Rica I came out of retirement and although my home is Costa Rica, returned to the United States to teach at an inner city school in Florida for one year. It was a school where I had taught for six years during the early 90's and was very much "going home". The Covid crises required that the last three months of school be done online. I was reappointed for the 2020-2021 school year but because my home and family is in Costa Rica and Florida intended to have students return to their physical school settings I instead chose to request a leave of absence for the year from my position due to the uncertainty and question of the ability to keep both students and teachers safe. I returned to Costa Rica and in March of 2021 went back to the United States where a Covid vaccination was available and taught ESE Science and Language Arts in ESE co-teach and Facilitation roles until the end of the school year in early June. I have always been extremely involved in school activities other than my teaching duties. These include music, art, sports, and writing and most especially with Community Service activities. I held a valid Florida Teaching Certificate for 30 years, until 2004, that included multiple content area certifications, K-12. At that time I had no plans of returning to Florida to teach and did not need to keep it valid to teach in Costa Rica and I allowed it to lapse. I have been issued a new three year Florida temporary certificate in Middle Grades allowing me to teach again in Florida which, as I said, I did during the 2019-2020 school year. My passions are many - music (I have been a performing musician/singer for 40+ years), athletics, in particular surfing, art, and writing are some my favorites. I |