Winter Springs High School Discussion
Your questions posed to me:
- How do you measure student success?
- It depends...
- If I were to walk into your classroom, what would I see?
- Authentic Inquiry and Engagement
- How do you encourage cooperative learning, and what methods do you use to group children for success?
- What are five skills/things you need in your profession?
(To be successful!)- Love for teaching
- Critical thinking
- Determination
- Patience
- Ability to multi-task
- How did you choose your profession?
- I changed my major five times...working as a site director for YMCA before and after care.
- What degrees did you need to attain to do your job?
- Ph.D. in Social Science Education and a Minor in Instructional Technology (University of Virginia)
- What other jobs have you had?
- From when I started working at the age of 13 through being a 5th grade teacher and then a professor:
- Beach Theater concession stand
- Little Caesars Pizza
- Amoco Gas Station
- Homeowner Title Company
- Central Electric Company
- Food Lion
- Montgomery Wards
- Tampa Bay Mold Company
- Turtles Music and Movies
- Vinoy Hotel
- YMCA
- From when I started working at the age of 13 through being a 5th grade teacher and then a professor:
- What do you specifically teach at UCF?
- Social studies methods courses (Elementary and Secondary)
- Teaching with Primary Sources
- Study Abroad to the Czech Republic
- Digital History/ Teaching History
- What is your favorite part of your job or career thus far?
- Most everything...I have the most amazing job!!! It is hard to choose...but maybe a highlight is my work with the Library of Congress and my work in the Czech Republic.
- What is your favorite part about working abroad/ what prompted these decisions?
- People, food, culture, history, etc.
- Father-in-law - Defected from Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the Russians invaded
- What are the benefits after being abroad in the long run?
- Willingness to see and experience new things. I have been to 75+ countries, served as a Fulbright Specialist in Bulgaria, walked over the very top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, climbed a portion of the Great Wall of China, been to the southern tip of South America...
