Who am I?

Welcome to my blog!  

I am a 40 something Lead Teacher at Bester Elementary in Washington County, MD.  For those of you not from Maryland, I live about a mile and a half from Sharpsburg, MD where Antietam Battlefield is located.  

     

I am a mom of 2 young boys, Evan (grade 7) and Ben, (grade 3).  My husband is an engineer at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and a part time-paid as well as a volunteer firefighter.    

I received my undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a minor in English Literature from Messiah College and received my Masters in Education in Curriculum & Instruction (with a concentration in math) from Frostburg State University.       

This (2017-18) will be my 22nd year as a teacher.  I began my career teaching grade 8 math at Calverton Middle School in Baltimore City, MD.   After 3 years I moved to Washington County, MD where I have worked for WCPS ever since.  I have taught both middle and elementary school (10 years in each).  Most recently was the Central Office Lead Teacher for Elementary Mathematics (7 years).  This year I will be a Building Level Lead Teacher at Pangborn Elementary!       

In education I have always had a passion for math but I also love reading and social studies!    Currently I’m really “into” writing and using 3-act lessons (thanks Dan Meyer) and “noticing and wondering” (thanks Annie Fetter) in math instruction to build curiosity, motivate students, and build those mathematical habits of mind (Math Practices).  I plan to use this blog to post some of the great things that I find and use to continue to build my professional knowledge as well as instructional resources.  This is a first for me –  blogging!  I’ve created a website for an entire county of elementary teachers but never a blog.  Thanks to Heather Lindner for inspiring me to start this blog (check out Heather’s blog).  So…welcome to my adventure.