EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Children are natural born learners. They are happiest when finding themselves in an environment safely challenging themselves to risk new learning tasks even when they’re not aware of being taught.
The only impediment to learning for a young child is if he or she is discouraged or feels the task unreachable. They have an innate belief that they can do anything which is the job of a teacher to reinforce and encourage. I want all kids to be winners and end the lesson with a smile.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
I received a Masters of Philosophy and Masters of Arts/Linguistics at CUNY, GSUC in 1981. In 1977 I earned a Graduate Diploma in Transformational Grammar and Phonology where I studied British Dialects. I’d traveled to England in 1974 to complete a Bachelor of Arts from C.C.N.Y., C.U.N.Y. in Linguistic Theory, minoring in Romance Languages with 1 year of Swahili at the School of Oriental & African Languages, U. of London.
My love for languages began in 8th grade when I began 5 years of Spanish and 4 years of high school French earning an Academic Diploma from the New Lincoln School in New York City in 1970. I continue to have a love of languages and the use of spoken and written languages, striving to listen to, recognize, and appreciate languages from all over the world in the melting pot of New York City.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
NYC Dept of Education, New York, NY; Day Elementary Schools, New York, NY; Math Specialist, Science Specialist, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Grade Homeroom 1986 – 2004
Riker’s Island/Bronx House of Detention, New York, NY; Computer Skills, Basic Ed & Pre-GED Tutor 1984 – 1985
College of New Rochelle, New York, NY; Language Arts Coordinator 1983 – 1984
Queens College, City College, and John Jay College, C.U.N.Y., New York, NY Adjunct Professor in Anthropological Linguistics, Linguistics Anthropology, African Family & Society 1979 – 1982
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Building Secretary in Lenox Terrace Association of Concerned Tenants from 2007 to present
Board of Directors at the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Inc. from 2002 to present
State Quarter collector 1999 – 2008
Travel to France, Italy (1961), England (1967, 1974), Mexico 1969, Switzerland 1975, Holland (1980), Hungary 2010
Family, Travel and Event Photography since my mother bought me my first Brownie camera in 1961 to present