Working...
I grew up in Catoosa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Catoosa High School in 1992. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with Middle School endorsements in Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts in 1995 through Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. My family moved to Claremore in 1994 and I have lived here ever since. My first teaching position was as a seventh and eighth grade Language Arts teacher at Catoosa Public Schools. I moved to 6th grade Language Arts and Social Studies for the following two school years. In 1998, I left Catoosa to accept a teaching position at Union Public Schools teaching sixth and seventh grade Mathematics. During my time at Union, my daughter was born. I was fortunate to be able to take a sabbatical from 2000-2002 in order to be a full-time Mom. When I returned to teaching, I taught sixth grade Mathematics and sixth grade Social Studies at Union until 2004. I was given the opportunity to teach at Central Upper Elementary (CUE) here in Claremore during the 2004-2005 school year. I taught Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies at CUE that year. I moved to Elementary Gifted and Talented at Claremont Elementary in the fall of 2005. I was full-time at Claremont until 2010. At the end of May 2010, it was decided that I would be a shared teacher at Claremont and Roosa. I love working with the gifted and talented students at both schools. It has been a challenge at times, but I love getting to know so many more kids. I love what I do and I love this community. Claremore is an amazing district. I say that as a teacher and as a parent.
Some hobbies I enjoy are reading, gardening, and traveling. One of my favorite genres is historical fiction. I especially love reading about strong pioneer women during the 1800s. One of my favorite books is These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories by Nancy Turner. It is based upon the real life story of the author's great-grandmother. Gardening is also something I love to do. I'm not always good at it! Some of my plants die and I often have weeds growing in my flowerbed. My favorite plant is the Crape Myrtle. Its blooms are so delicate. I have never traveled outside of the United States, but I plan to one day. Right now my travels are limited to what my daughter would enjoy. We spend a lot of time at Silver Dollar City and Six Flags. I hope to take her to Yellowstone in the future. We also visit Grand Lake often during the summer.
Now you know a little about me. I hope that you will share even more about yourself with me. I look forward to getting to know you better.
