This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Husband, and children Samuel (college student) and Isabelle (second-grader)
School: Denair Middle School
Subject taught: Dual Language Immersion history (sixth, seventh and eighth grades) and English (sixth grade)
Experience and education: I have a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in Latin America Studies from Notre Dame de Namur 1999, an MBA from the University of Phoenix and graduated from the Teacher Preparation Program UC Merced. I was a substitute teacher from 2088 to 2020 and taught at Denair Middle School in 2021.
What attracted you to Denair? The dual language program at DUSD is the type of program I believe in. El programa de educación bilingüe en Denair es el tipo de programa en el cual yo siento que es mejor.
What most inspires you about teaching? Helping students to be lifelong learners is my goal every day. Ayudando a estudiantes que aprendan a lo largo de toda su vida.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? The biggest challenge for me this year will be being the new teacher on campus and getting to know the staff at DMS as well as my students. El mayor reto para mí este año será ser la nueva maestra en la escuela y conocer al personal de DMS, así como a mis estudiantes.
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? My favorite activity is “Charade Vocabulary” because I enjoy watching students use new words to guess the correct vocabulary word. Mi actividad favorita es “Charade Vocabulary” porque disfruto observar a los estudiantes mientras usan nuevas palabras para adivinar el vocabulario correcto.
What do you want your students to remember? I want my students to remember that we are all “a work in progress” and therefore what this means is that “we never stop learning”. Quiero que mis alumnos recuerden que todos somos “un trabajo en progreso” y, por lo tanto, lo que esto significa es que “nunca dejamos de aprender”.
How can parents support what you do? Parents can create a no television, no cell phone, no tablet, no distraction “environment” for a few hours each evening so that their kids can focus on reading and homework. Routines create a stable environment in this hectic world. Padres pueden crear un ambiente de no televisión, no celular, no tableta y no distracciones por unas horas cada tarde en la que sus criaturas pueden leer y terminar sus tareas. Las rutinas nos ayudan a todos en estos tiempos tan apresurados.
What would surprise people about your job? I am amazed every day about how much teachers care about their students. Me fascina cada dia cuanto los maestros/as se preocupan de cada estudiante.
What do you do for fun? I enjoy going to the beaches around the world and camping whenever I can. Enjoying nature is important to me. Me encanta disfrutar del medio ambiente en la forma de ir acampar o visitando las playas del mundo.
