Personal Narrative
As I look back over my life, one common theme emerges; a passion for education. Whether coaching numerous sports; leading Sunday school classes; or serving as peer mentor, my personal narrative clearly shows a pattern of fulfillment when educating young people. Despite the signs being so clear, my journey has taken a winding path. From growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana to college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to law school in Columbia, Missouri to finally landing in Saint Louis, Missouri, I wouldn't trade my journey for anything.
When I began my journey into education six years ago, I didn’t fully understand what an amazing experience this would be. My first classroom experience involved teaching a unit on sexually transmitted diseases to 6th grade students as a long-term substitute teacher. Without a traditional education degree or student teaching experience, I was lost! Like many new teachers, I clung to the textbook like it was a life vest. I knew my students were hearing the information but I also knew that they looked bored by merely memorizing vocab and answering questions. In an effort to make the unit more relevant, I created a project where students used various websites to research infection rates in St. Louis for the various diseases mentioned in the text. While it wasn’t anywhere close to my best idea, I learned a valuable lesson: education is most effective when it is real and relevant to students.
Despite the awkwardness of my first teaching experience, I was extremely excited about learning more about my craft in my first full-time position at Hazelwood East Middle School. At HEMS, I was blessed to work with some of the most dedicated, talented faculty and administration you could imagine and students with such incredible potential. Some of my students presented such unique educational needs that I began to worry that I was in over my head. Thankfully, at East Middle, I met an amazing mentor, Mark Herkenhoff.
From my first day, Mark took me under his wing and taught me how to assess and adapt our curriculum and instruction to the unique needs of our students. Working together, we designed hands-on, inquiry-based lessons for our middle school Biology curriculum that allowed our students to do science rather than just hear a teacher lecture about it. By focusing on skill development rather than content memorization, our students showed amazing growth in both science knowledge and in reading skills. We both were very proud when data showed that East Middle students performed extremely well on the science portion of the Missouri Aptitude Program test more than 2 years after we taught them.
I took these lessons and applied them to our “Learning Lab” period, an enrichment period for our students. Based on the interests and needs of our students, I created a boys’ leadership curriculum and a mock trial class that were offered during the Learning Lab time. The leadership class used inspirational stories, a mentoring process, interviews with successful people, and journaling to expose our boys to positive male role models. The mock trial class walked students through a basic criminal law case that challenged them to think critically about the facts, make an opening statement, and question witnesses. My experiences at East Middle showed me that when students are actively engaged in learning that connects to their world and challenges them to think, they are capable of amazing things!
In the spring of 2012, Dr. Tim Dilg, principal of St. John Vianney High School, contacted me about an opportunity to design and implement an innovative, inquiry-based forensic science curriculum. I knew I had to explore the opportunity. Luckily, I was selected to undertake this amazing opportunity! The excitement allowed me to focus on the incredible task ahead of me how to design a forensic science course that touches on major topics in various science and math disciplines for freshman students who have not yet had those subjects? Drawing back to my first mentor’s lessons, the answer became clear. Develop a curriculum that focuses on the core skills that form the foundation of the applied sciences and delivering daily lessons that used a wide variety of instructional strategies to ignite students’ interest in science. Drawing on my previous experiences as a lawyer, I designed the course to offer as many cross-curricular opportunities as possible including reading comprehension, creative writing, logic, and drawing inferences. The Forensic Science course is a powerful addition to our curriculum and has been extremely well-received by our students. What I learned at East Middle also held true at Vianney, students learn best when they are engaged in lessons that are real, relevant, and interesting.
My development as an educator has also been a result of the experiences I have had at Vianney. Being a Gurian Institute Certified Trainer helped me design brain-friendly lessons that work with the unique developmental needs of the male and female brain. As part of a team from Vianney, I completed “Making Thinking Visible,” an online course designed to teach educators to utilize strategies that challenge students to think critically and creatively about the subject matter. As one of only five Google Qualified Individuals and a Google Certified Innovator, I have presented on integrating technology into our instructional practices at faculty meetings as well as METC and NCEA conference.
Serving as Dean of Applied Sciences ignited my desire to play a larger role in my school community. As the Dean, I have experienced how an administrative position can positively affect the academic culture of a department as well as the lives of its students and faculty. This role has helped me realize my desire to move into an administrative role so that I can make an even larger impact on a school community.
Six years into my transition, I could not be happier with my choice to change careers. I am extremely passionate about my role as an educator and coach. I thrive on the process of innovating for my students' benefit.
When I began my journey into education six years ago, I didn’t fully understand what an amazing experience this would be. My first classroom experience involved teaching a unit on sexually transmitted diseases to 6th grade students as a long-term substitute teacher. Without a traditional education degree or student teaching experience, I was lost! Like many new teachers, I clung to the textbook like it was a life vest. I knew my students were hearing the information but I also knew that they looked bored by merely memorizing vocab and answering questions. In an effort to make the unit more relevant, I created a project where students used various websites to research infection rates in St. Louis for the various diseases mentioned in the text. While it wasn’t anywhere close to my best idea, I learned a valuable lesson: education is most effective when it is real and relevant to students.
Despite the awkwardness of my first teaching experience, I was extremely excited about learning more about my craft in my first full-time position at Hazelwood East Middle School. At HEMS, I was blessed to work with some of the most dedicated, talented faculty and administration you could imagine and students with such incredible potential. Some of my students presented such unique educational needs that I began to worry that I was in over my head. Thankfully, at East Middle, I met an amazing mentor, Mark Herkenhoff.
From my first day, Mark took me under his wing and taught me how to assess and adapt our curriculum and instruction to the unique needs of our students. Working together, we designed hands-on, inquiry-based lessons for our middle school Biology curriculum that allowed our students to do science rather than just hear a teacher lecture about it. By focusing on skill development rather than content memorization, our students showed amazing growth in both science knowledge and in reading skills. We both were very proud when data showed that East Middle students performed extremely well on the science portion of the Missouri Aptitude Program test more than 2 years after we taught them.
I took these lessons and applied them to our “Learning Lab” period, an enrichment period for our students. Based on the interests and needs of our students, I created a boys’ leadership curriculum and a mock trial class that were offered during the Learning Lab time. The leadership class used inspirational stories, a mentoring process, interviews with successful people, and journaling to expose our boys to positive male role models. The mock trial class walked students through a basic criminal law case that challenged them to think critically about the facts, make an opening statement, and question witnesses. My experiences at East Middle showed me that when students are actively engaged in learning that connects to their world and challenges them to think, they are capable of amazing things!
In the spring of 2012, Dr. Tim Dilg, principal of St. John Vianney High School, contacted me about an opportunity to design and implement an innovative, inquiry-based forensic science curriculum. I knew I had to explore the opportunity. Luckily, I was selected to undertake this amazing opportunity! The excitement allowed me to focus on the incredible task ahead of me how to design a forensic science course that touches on major topics in various science and math disciplines for freshman students who have not yet had those subjects? Drawing back to my first mentor’s lessons, the answer became clear. Develop a curriculum that focuses on the core skills that form the foundation of the applied sciences and delivering daily lessons that used a wide variety of instructional strategies to ignite students’ interest in science. Drawing on my previous experiences as a lawyer, I designed the course to offer as many cross-curricular opportunities as possible including reading comprehension, creative writing, logic, and drawing inferences. The Forensic Science course is a powerful addition to our curriculum and has been extremely well-received by our students. What I learned at East Middle also held true at Vianney, students learn best when they are engaged in lessons that are real, relevant, and interesting.
My development as an educator has also been a result of the experiences I have had at Vianney. Being a Gurian Institute Certified Trainer helped me design brain-friendly lessons that work with the unique developmental needs of the male and female brain. As part of a team from Vianney, I completed “Making Thinking Visible,” an online course designed to teach educators to utilize strategies that challenge students to think critically and creatively about the subject matter. As one of only five Google Qualified Individuals and a Google Certified Innovator, I have presented on integrating technology into our instructional practices at faculty meetings as well as METC and NCEA conference.
Serving as Dean of Applied Sciences ignited my desire to play a larger role in my school community. As the Dean, I have experienced how an administrative position can positively affect the academic culture of a department as well as the lives of its students and faculty. This role has helped me realize my desire to move into an administrative role so that I can make an even larger impact on a school community.
Six years into my transition, I could not be happier with my choice to change careers. I am extremely passionate about my role as an educator and coach. I thrive on the process of innovating for my students' benefit.