Adulting 101

I have worked in education for over 15 years, the last 9 as a homeschool parent. My passion is helping students create a deeper understanding of complex material by examining different perspectives. The stories that are told matter, even more in today's world. Understanding another perspective and story can help us relate. I love sharing new diverse literature that is engaging and expands students' understanding. History can come alive using both novels and primary source materials in my classes. When examining history there are many factors that we will discuss including socioeconomic, religious, bias in narration and understanding who the narrator is. Critical thinking is a skill that all students will work on, while we engage in discussions about the topics covered students will be questioned to consider different perspectives and reasons for events or choices.  

I have taught at a local homeschool group for over 7 years (in person and online) During that time one of my favorite classes has been running the middle and high school book clubs. Beside introducing books to students; I have been facilitating the discussions around difficult topics. I have attended many teacher professional developments over the years focusing on how to handle these difficult topics with sensitivity and care.

I started my schooling with a B.B.A. from Northwood University. After several years in the corporate climate I decided to go back to school to get a teaching degree. I attended Eastern Michigan University and finished my classes and testing required for the teaching degree. The semester I was to start student teaching one of my children became seriously ill. Once they were recovered I was starting to homeschool my children and never went back to finish the program. 
 
While I have taught at several homeschool groups and co-ops. My experience at the high school has focused on several topics: English, History, Finance, and Engineering. With my love of books I ran the middle and high school book clubs for over 5 years. During this time I have also taught classes on essay writing, short stories, grammar and mechanics of writing and novel analysis. I ran the book club and novel analysis class together exploring a new book each month.  The class was split into two, one with a middle grade selection and one with a YA book selection. I worked hard to select new books that were diverse, own voices, and covered many genres.(24 books a year) I facilitated discussions about the books we read. This included plot, themes, symbolism, character development, and more. My students have also participated in NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. 

I created the Literature through film series at the request of students. While we were reading excellent books and engaging with the primary source material. Students, especially my reluctant or slow readers, wanted to learn about the "classics" without giving up the book club. Some of these students had just started to enjoy reading or couldn't complete 2 novels a month. By using film students were exposed to 14 book-to-film adaptations in one semester.  We were able to still discuss all the major elements of our novel analysis. I used passages from the text to discuss unique grammar usage. Some students enjoyed it so much they even read a book or two after watching the movies. 

With my History classes I use a combination of primary sources, articles, reference materials, and videos to teach students. I teach students to evaluate the bias of the author, the purpose of the piece of writing, and who's points of views are put forth. We were often trying to look at marginalized peoples stories that may not always be highlighted. I have taught both Howard Zinn's History for Young People, Big History Project, and History through film. 

The classes I taught under Finance, Entrepreneurship and Accounting. While covering the topics themselves I find that students do well with hands-on application of studies. For example my Finance class besides learning the basics of finance. Students researched careers, living locations, wages, housing expenses, job growth or decline projections in the area of their chosen field and living location. With that information they made a budget, calculated mortgage rates, loan interest rates, amount of student loan debt they anticipated and payment schedules. They considered the impact of credit scores and of credit card debt at different interest rates. We also did a class long mock investment tracking, investments over time, and retirement series. 

Our group was lucky enough to have access to Lego Education Kits. I taught several classes with engineering challenges and using the kits materials.  My Outschool engineering classes are based on those I taught at the homeschool groups but do not require a kit. 

I have continued to attend teacher professional developments including:
EdCamp - EMU
NerdCamp - Parma
NaNoWriMo - Online, and local events
Others offered at EMU and MSU