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Hi Everyone,

After growing up in Dracut, MA as the child of two educators, I became an elementary classroom teacher in the Dracut Public Schools for 27 years and I taught 2 years in a Catholic school prior to Dracut. Nearly all those years were in first grade except for my first year in Dracut when I taught sixth grade. This is my fifth year teaching second grade and one of my favorite things about moving to second is that I can spend more time teaching science and social studies. I have a B.A. in Psychology with a second concentration in Art and a Ed.M. in Curriculum and Instruction. I’ve had two breaks in my teaching career…once when I was laid off, I was the town’s children’s librarian for two years and I took another two years off with the birth of my twin daughters who are 19 year old college freshmen. I still live in Dracut with my husband of 28 years, Mark and my daughters, Catie and Molly.

I am very curious to learn more about the Great American Biotic Interchange especially learning what animals might have lived in North America that no longer live here. I consider myself a lifelong learner and I am not only interested in learning new material that I can bring back to my students but the process of putting myself back in the role of a learner enables me to better relate and empathize with my young students learning new concepts. In July 2014, I did just that when Denise Porcello, another second grade team member (Michelle C.), and I went on a fossil dig to DIG School in Hell Creek, Montana.  I am looking forward to sharing this GABI 6 experience with my colleague, Denise and like the idea of communicating from the field in FL back to our school to share our adventure and knowledge with our second grade students. I’m not sure what I want to do for my lesson yet as I would like to explore what MA Science standards would best fit the content. I’m looking forward to being a part of this cohort and eventually meeting people in person!