To be successful citizens and human beings, students must acquire more than knowledge; they must acquire good habits. It is habits such as curiosity, critical thinking, open-mindedness, respect, and cooperation that I hope to pass on to my students.

My love-affair with language began at the University of Delaware where I graduated with a B.A. in English. Inspired to spread my passion for literature, I attended Simmons College, where I earned a Master's degree in Education. Upon receiving my teaching certification, I worked as an English teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA. Most of my classroom experience focused on under-performing students, and my greatest joy as a teacher was in finding ways for reading and writing to feel relevant to students who had previously written off literacy as a non-essential.

Along with my work in education, I have worked for the past five years on a variety of projects to create a sustainable and humane food system. In my own neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, I co-founded Egleston Community Orchard, an inclusive green space that grows food and community. I've also worked with several local non-profit organic farms as a grower and educator.

I consider myself lucky to be an educator, in particular one who specializes in English language arts. Language is perhaps the only subject that has the potential to truly further every student on their path to self and world discovery. Through teaching reading and writing, we are, in reality, giving students a myriad of tools: the ability to communicate, to perceive the world through a multitude of perspectives, and the power to understand history and one's place within it.