As a new-ish 5th grade teacher, I worked with a departmentalized team and I was the math teacher. I loved math and that’s all I wanted to teach. One year, our numbers were down and we had to lose a teacher, so I got moved to ….gasp…. 5th grade social studies!

I was so ANGRY! I knew nothing about those old historical guys and who cares about the American Revolution anyway…gripe…gripe. However, I liked my job and wanted to stay employed, so I sucked it up.

That first year, I taught right from the textbook. I was actually reading the lessons the night before I presented them. I had no clue who some of these historical people were and I couldn’t remember any of the events from when I went through school.

Guess what happened… I fell in love with social studies that first year! I was fortunate enough to be chosen to attend the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute that summer and that solidified the deal for me.

Social studies instruction is my passion! I love being the first teacher to ever introduce Jamestown, the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, and so much more to my students. What an honor it is for my classroom to be students’ very first exposure to the Constitution and Bill of Rights!

Our students need to know how our country started and what our founding fathers (and mothers) went through to get us to this great nation that we call home. They need to know what the Constitution is, how our branches of government work together, and what their rights are as Americans.

I don’t use textbooks in my classroom because I like to make history jump off the page. I use interactive, engaging lessons and activities with my students to help them feel like history is something they want to climb into and research in their free time.

My greatest compliment from students is when they come back to see me after a few years and they tell me how much they loved my social studies class and how they love history now because of me…. So sweet!

Aside from school, I am married and have two adorable children. Miriam is 7 and Elias is 5. They keep me busy and I love every minute with them!