Learning at the Heart

Watching people learn is energizing and fascinating.  The looks on their faces and the spring in their step when they discover something new can be contagious.  It’s so easy to see in young children.  It’s not as easy to see as children get older or in the adults who work in schools.  But it is there.  And I am passionate about finding those moments for all the learners in a school:  children and adults alike.

I am a career educator.  I started as a high school student, working in a first grade classroom as an elective course.  That led to my undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Child Development from Western Washington University and my first teaching job as a 2nd grade teacher in Kent, Washington.  After a few years of teaching kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades, I earned my Master’s Degree in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment from Lesley University.  I began to co-teach several professional development courses in my school district and soon became a Teacher on Special Assignment, coordinating the work of our district’s site-based literacy coaches.  Over time, the position grew into the role of Instructional Leadership and Professional Learning Coordinator.  I supported the work of coaches and administrators in 40 schools, K-12.  At the same time, I began co-leading training for International Literacy Coaches, working abroad.

I earned a second Master’s Degree and Administrative Credentials from University of Washington-Bothell.  Before I finished my administrative certificate, I had accepted my first elementary principal position.  I worked for 5 years as an elementary principal in Kent and in Seattle, Washington.  During that time, I served on the Board for Learning Forward, Washington and continued consulting with coaches and administrators working in  International schools.

In 2016, my family and I moved to Graded American School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to try International Education full time.  When we arrived, I was the Associate Principal in the Lower School and have now moved into the position of Director of Teaching and Learning. I am leading a schoolwide strategic effort to create conditions in our school that result in deeper learning for all students. This means working closely with teachers on princples and practices of the science of learning that result in positive achievement outcomes for all of our students from preschool (Montessori approach) through high school (International Baccalaureate). I continue to provide professional development for International Instructional Coaches in regions throughout the world.  

I firmly believe that when the adults in a school are learning, the children in the school are learning.  My interests and expertise are in adult learning, instructional coaching, school leadership, organizational psychology, curriculum and assessment, reader’s and writer’s workshop, and student agency and voice.

As I have traveled around the world, learning and leading alongside diverse educators, it is clear that the educators with the greatest impact have “Learning at the Heart” of everything they do.