Hello! I have been a Special Education Teacher for 19 years. I obtained my bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and master's degree from Eastern Illinois University. I graduated with magna cum laude for both of my degrees.

I started out working for a year in a kindergarten to middle school age setting. I have extensive work in teaching elementary/middle school math as well as teaching phonics. I have been at my current job in a high school setting for 18 years now. I worked for a number of years with high functioning students in regular, cotaught, or modified courses. Halfway through my career I switched gears and have been in a functional life skills based classroom for students with severe disabilities.

I have experience in teaching: math, English, science, social studies, vocational, and life skills. I have worked with students with a variety of disabilities imcluding ADHD, learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, autism, and intellectual disabilities. I enjoy working with students to reach their full potential. I love tutoring to see where someone can start out at and then end up at. It's great to be in the passenger seat to see the growth and confidence that students can build no matter what their challenges might be. My teaching philosophy is that the world needs all kinds of minds!

I have a lot of experience in adapting materials and teaching styles to students with unique needs. I have a lot of functional experience at making learning relatable to life skills everyone needs at home, work, or in their community. I believe that all students have talents and strengths. I believe in empowering learners to have take the reins of their education. I also am a firm believer in parent involvement to help students make life goals as they are the most knowledgeable source about their student.

We all have different ways of learning. Normal is just a dryer setting! I am willing to meet you wherever you are at skill wise. I look forward to meeting you!