How I Developed My SuperPowers!

Imagine the scenario: a little girl sits, watching intently as her teacher scribes numbers on the board. She stares for a few minutes, trying to make meaning out of what her teacher is teaching her, but she has absolutely no idea. The writing on the board looks and feels like a foreign language. 

After a few minutes of concentration, she gives up and goes back to playing in her desk and daydreaming about anything and everything else.

This cycle continues through dozens of math lessons until she is so far behind that even staying after school to help the teacher and get tutoring does not get her caught up. Year after year, she tries as hard as she can to understand math, but it doesn’t seem real or tangible to her. She feels frustrated and even a little dumb because she sees many of her classmates doing their work and understanding while she stares at her paper, making up a few numbers to write down so she doesn’t feel bad. She is so nervous in every class just worrying if the teacher will call on her to answer a question that she asks to go to the bathroom or avoids eye contact with her teacher at all costs. 

She continues struggling year after year to even grasp tiny understandings in math and somehow she continues to skate by with Ds on several of her report cards. She’s nice and well-mannered enough though—-and her teacher knows she is trying, so by the end of each quarter, she has a passing grade...just enough to get by and promoted to the next grade level. 

Honestly, she didn’t learn long division and she wasn’t fluent with her multiplication tables until she found creative ways (and YouTube videos) to teach herself these skills in college. 

And, as you probably suspect, that girl is me!

I’ve grown a lot since then and have committed myself to being a lifelong learner. This includes learning and using tools and strategies for teaching myself and others so that I can help those in situations much like myself.

I went on from my early schooling years to receive a BA from Alderson- Broaddus University in Elementary Education with a specialization in Multi- Categorical Special Education. Since then, I've been teaching all kinds of learners for the past decade.

I am passionate about meeting children where they are at and helping them learn by creating genuine connections.

You could say that my superpowers are creativity and helping all children to feel empowered through strategic (& fun) tutoring and coaching!