Experience
Below are the experiences I have had in teaching, going
all the way back to my first experience in college. It is
provided as a reference and as a salute to those teachers that have
helped me along the way. Thank you!!
Professional Educator
August 1, 2007 - Present
BlueSky School: St. Paul, MN
Math Teacher
Pre-Algebra, Game Math
The opportunity to combine teaching and technology, two of my favorite things,
made BlueSky School an excellent fit for me. BlueSky is on the cutting
edge by being a completely online 7-12 school. Students from all over the
state take their classes online and earn their high school diploma. Making
the adjustment to working from home and teaching kids using technology has been
quite a learning experience. It's different not being in a classroom with
the students. They do all of their work from their home computers, but I
get to know them through lots of emails, instant messaging, and phone calls.
The best part is that I can work with a student as long as it takes to help them
understand. The time I have to spend working individually with them is not
affected by also trying to keep the other students in the room occupied.
They weren't kidding when they said "this will be the hardest job you'll ever
have." It's definitely intense, but also very rewarding.
August 18, 2003 - July 31, 2007
Holy Redeemer School: Marshall, MN
Middle School Teacher
Grade 7 Religion, Grade 7 General Math, Grade 7 & 8 Pre-Algebra & Grade 8
Algebra
HRS was a great place for me to start my career. I enjoyed
working with the junior high age level. I taught for four years at Holy Redeemer.
I grew as a teacher and left a very different educator than when I started. I
am very thankful for the opportunities I had there to work with so many great
people: staff, parents and especially the students. The part I was probably least prepared for, but I
found most rewarding was the opportunity to share my Catholic faith with
my students.
College Experiences
November 4 -15, 2002
Parkside Elementary School: Marshall, MN
Student Teaching
Teacher: Steve Fleck
Grade 5
As I started this experience, I wasn’t really sure what
elementary had to do with what I would be teaching. I
didn’t know how I would benefits from the experience of being
in a fifth grade classroom all day and just teaching math. I
quickly realized how much I could pick up in Mr. Fleck’s
classroom. I couldn’t believe the difference
between the fifth and seventh grade students. What a
difference two years makes! Mr. Fleck really helped solidify
my confidence in my skills as a teacher. This was a great
last stop on my way to the ultimate goal of my own classroom.
August 26 - November 1, 2002
Marshall Junior High School: Marshall, MN
Student Teaching
Teacher: Kari Meyer
Grade 7
Going into this experience I wasn’t sure if I would like to
teach students at the junior high age level. However,
following my time at the junior high I think this might be my favorite
age group to work with! I think I was a bit naïve
going in. I really didn’t have a very good idea of
what goes on in a teacher’s day other than the classroom
things. I also developed a lot as an educator during my time
at the junior high. I asked many questions and really worked
on the things that Mrs. Meyer and Dr. Hueber suggested that I work
on. It was a sad day when I finished at the junior
high. I didn’t want to leave!
April 29 & 30, 2002
Marshall Senior High School: Marshall, MN
Secondary Methods: Mathematics
Teacher: Jerry Gallagher
Grades 9-12
This experience was really helpful for me to sit back and focus on the
other things that go on in the classroom besides the teacher up
front. I really enjoyed my conversations with Mr. Gallagher
as he was very honest and open about what goes on in the
classroom. I think I am as ready as I’m ever going
to be to do my student teaching in the fall!
January 3-14, 2002
Lakeview High School: Cottonwood, MN
Pre-Student Teaching
Teacher: Sue Selden
Grades 9-12
I was only supposed to do 10 days, but I went an extra day because I
had meetings concerning the Food Service fire almost
everyday. Going into this experience I really questioned my
knowledge more than anything. Coming out I was very much
reassured that not only did I know plenty about math, but that I will
do just fine as a teacher. More than anything I learned a lot
about the “other” stuff that teachers do at
school. I really enjoyed this experience and hated to see it
end.
April 24 & 25, 2001
Yellow Medicine East Junior High: Clarkfield, MN
Teaching & Learning Process
Teacher: Darlys Listul
Grades 7-8
After the two days of teaching, I left feeling great! I had
so much fun with the kids that the thought, “I’m
going to get paid for this?” crossed my mind. I
combined math and computers by teaching the kids about binary numbers
and first day and then about data storage the second day. It
was great experience for me and I became 100% sure that teaching is
absolutely what I want to do.
February 26, 2001
Yellow Medicine East Junior High: Clarkfield, MN
Teaching & Learning Process
Teacher: Darlys Listul
Grades 7-8
In this experience I was more or less a substitute teacher. I
was in a computer lab, so the teacher I worked with stayed close by the
whole day in case of problems with the computers. The
students had a long term assignment that they were working on so I did
a lot of walking around, helping them individually. I learned
a lot that would help me with the upcoming clinical in April.
Spring 1999
Springfield High School: Springfield, MN
Intro to Education
Teachers: Gene Leopold, Jeff Briard, Paul Arnoldi
Grades 7-12
In this experience, I observed classes that were taught by all three of
the teachers in the afternoon for a period of about 8 weeks.
I learned a lot about teaching that I was oblivious to as a
student. At the end, I had the opportunity to teach a class
of Geometry. It was a very good experience, and it helped to
solidify my desire to be a teacher.
