I thrive daily in my roles as mother to three (awesome) boys ( Lohgan, Kai, and Dakota), wife, teacher, and now student (yay!). I was born on the east coast, but have grown up in Southern California. I earned my B.A. and teaching credential from UC Riverside and have been teaching for 16 years. I am currently teaching English 9,10,11 and creative writing at Vista Visions Academy, which is a relatively new (fourth year) public K-12 blended learning/independent study academy within Vista Unified School District. At VVA our high school students learn in an online and blended format, and it is has been a really exciting few years of helping to create a school in our district that is different than any other. We are encouraged to think BIG and think Outside The Box to help guide our students to become divergent thinkers, and that is such a fun, exciting and challenging daily opportunity. I also am an online and blended learning resource teacher for VUSD, offering support to teachers and programs as we shift to blended and personal learning district-wide. We incorporate a lot of technology into our curriculum and student experience, therefore it is understandable that I am beyond thrilled to have joined this program, and am looking forward to learning from the diverse group of people in our cohort. Before coming onboard at VVA I taught English Language Development for six years at Vista High school, and I also have experience teaching middle school English, high school journalism and coaching high school track and cross country in the Inland Empire.
Balance is pretty important to me, so I strive to balance out my busy days with other things that bring me absolute joy, like running, yoga, cooking (I'm a complete foodie), playing with our two large golden retriever/border collie dogs, Romeo and Scout, and reading time (and nightly pillow talk) with my boys. I also love to go listen to live music and travel to gorgeous places around the world with my husband, Scott, whenever the opportunity arises. I always have a list of new things I want to try, and currently on the list are: learning to play guitar, learning to knit, and conquering my smallish fear (ok- largish fear) of big waves and learning to surf.