I have been teaching at Merrill F. West High School in the Tracy Unified School District for 18 years. During that time, I have taught Biology CP, Biology PreAP, and Biology AP. In 2012, I joined West High’s Space & Engineering Academy (SEA) as the Principles of Engineering 2 teacher. This is the biology class for the academy. In 2015, I joined our school’s AVID team and taught AVID 1. I followed this class of students and taught AVID 2 the following year. I learned a lot about team building and teaching study skills in this program. I have since incorporated many of the AVID strategies into all of my biology classes.
During my time at West High, I have had numerous opportunities to practice my instructional leadership skills. I have served as one of our science department's co-chairs for a number of years. I have also served on the District's Science Committee since it was first assembled in 2010 to investigate the issues behind the high failure rate in biology for freshmen. For the past three years, this committee has concentrated its efforts on the district’s adoption and implementation of the NGSS science standards and providing training to the teachers in our district. I have had an active role in developing the new biology curriculum by writing the district course outlines and UC submission materials for Biology, Enhanced Biology, and SEA Biology. I am proactive in my continuing education on NGSS and the inclusion of computer modeling in the curriculum. I have attended several NGSS rollouts offered by the San Joaquin County Office of Education and was part of the Secondary Integration of Modeling in Math and Science (SIMMS) Grant where math and science teachers collaborated to develop cross-curricular lessons that incorporated coding.
I recently completed the coursework for my administrative credential and am now working on completing an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and School Development. My ultimate goal is to work in curriculum development at the district or county level.
Educational Philosophy
I believe students learn best in an environment that they feel is safe, both physically and emotionally. to develop such an environment relies on the development of relationships between students and adults. I believe teachers should develop a classroom culture where students can feel they belong to the overall class community while still being able to express their own culture and beliefs. To help develop a safe sense of community, I believe we need to lower the student’s affective filter. The learning environment should present students with different types of learning experiences to allow them opportunities to learn material in their optimal modalities, while allowing them to practice their weaker ones. Students come into a class at varying levels of skill sets. We must provide the necessary scaffolding to support students who may need extra assistance so that all students have the opportunity to succeed. Students are more likely to learn when given hands-on experiences and given opportunity to collaborate and develop their thinking so such materials and resources must be made available. In such environments students are more motivated to learn. Students also learn better when their parents support their learning. Alliances with parents should be fostered so parents can continue and support the learning of skills at home. I believe parents should be active in their student’s education.
I believe the content of a student’s education must focus on 21st century skills: critical thinking, problem solving, interactive communication and creativity. Whether it’s a math class, a science class, or an English class, the curricula should be applying the subject to those skills. Students should be collaborating just as much in their math class as a biology class. Students should also have equitable exposure to technology and computer use in all of their classes.
My lab Ronan, a girl's best friend❣ He is 10 going on 3. Such a puppy at heart❤.
I enjoy baking all kinds of goodies and love decorating cakes.
I also enjoy spending time in my garden and cooking great food that I harvest.