Big Dreamin'

As a young child I was fortunate enough to know my life direction, I wanted to be a teacher. During playtime I would force my sisters to play school and I was always the teacher.  I would even give them actual assignments and I would grade them. As I got older, I realized that I needed to decide whether or not I wanted to be an elementary or secondary school teacher, and when I took biology with Mr. Cardwell at Northview High School in Grand Rapids, MI, my destiny slapped me in the face. I remember going home one day and telling my mom that I was going to be a high school biology teacher. When she asked why, I replied that I loved the curriculum and I wanted others to love it just as much as I did.

In 2003, I graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI with a secondary education Biology degree.  My first job was as an adjunct professor at Montcalm Community College in Sidney, MI, where I was hired to teach one introductory biology class because the instructor quit one week before classes started. I ended up staying for two years and developing curriculum for the online biology course, but I had to move on because as an adjunct you don’t get health benefits. So, I wake up one morning and announced to my mom that I was moving to Florida to teach and get a Master’s Degree.  

I was offered a teaching job at Brandon High School in Brandon, FL and I applied to the University of South Florida (USF- Go Bulls!) in Tampa to earn a M. Ed. in Science Education: Biology Curriculum and Instruction. After four years of teaching I had finally found my passion, writing and developing curriculum - I loved to write it and teach it I but hated grading it! I hated that I was forced to use a textbook that was at a higher reading level than almost all of my students, I hated that I was required to attend meetings, fill in paper work, coach, etc. I just wanted to write curriculum and teach.

Upon graduation from USF, I move to California to marry my long time boyfriend. I was offered a job at Bonita High School in La Verne, CA. I was given the opportunity to teach AP Biology, which I was excited about because it reminded me of my days teaching at Montcalm Community College. The only downside was that I would end up teaching three different courses: Regular Biology, Honors Biology, and AP Biology.  Don’t get me wrong, I love biology and I love writing curriculum, but teaching it on three different levels is A LOT more work than what most teachers are expected to do for the same pay!