North Shore Country Day School

I came to North Shore in the fall of 2006. Although I grew up just around the corner from North Shore, I never knew the wonderful world that existed just beyond the circle lot. Since my camp counselor days in college, I have loved working with children and knew that my calling was to teach. My first teaching job was in Cleveland at a wonderful independent school for children with learning differences. It was there that I solidified my love for teaching and my philosophy that all children can learn. Seven years later, I made my way to the nation’s capital, and taught in a public school in Maryland. From there I began one of the greatest adventures of my life, teaching overseas for four years. I taught at the Fawzia Sultan School in Kuwait for two years, working with children with learning differences. Then I moved to Beirut, Lebanon and taught 6th grade humanities for another two years. The culture that I experienced, the people that I met and the lessons that I learned, have helped to make me the person who I am today. My world is both bigger and smaller and I try to pass this view on to my students. I never expected to be working just a few blocks from where my family lived for years, but the community at North Shore makes me want to keep teaching for many years to come.

This is my 22nd year at North Shore. For me, it is a magical place. Each year in August, I park far away from school and I walk to the campus. I want to see if the magic is still there. The minute I step on to the campus I feel it. I am swept into a place like no other. Each morning when I unlock the lab door, I go into what might be thought of as "flow." I knew I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was in the fourth grade. I knew I wanted learning to be serious and fun. My first class was straight out of college, in Charlottesville, Virginia. There were 36 third grade students and I taught all the specials, went out with the students for PE and ate lunch with them. I have taught in the Head Start Program and drug addicted Middle School students and now I am here. Each experience has had its challenges, but the one thing that I know is that every single child deserves a quality education and teachers who know them and are their advocates. I have enormous respect for my students and it is reciprocated. Since I teach kindergarten through fifth grade, I am able to watch students grow and develop in a hands-on lab atmosphere. In the thirty-plus years that I have been a teacher, there has not been one day when I regretted my decision.

When I was in fourth grade, I just loved my teacher, Mrs. Jones. That was the year I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Curiosity about the world motivates me every day to continue learning as much as I can about children, cultures and the natural world. I can’t imagine a time I will ever feel like I’ve learned enough, seen enough, or done enough. Being a learner is at the very core of who I am. Teaching at North Shore provides me with an environment where I can be with learners who are also curious about understanding the world around them.

Not a Chicago native, I grew up in North Carolina and firmly believe that sky is Carolina blue for a reason. After high school I headed north to Boston where I spent four years before heading to the far south, to the land of gauchos, foot long steaks and Eva Peron: Argentina. Living abroad was one of the most meaningful and exciting experiences of my life and one that I hope I can share with others.  After getting married to the tune of a tango I landed in Chicago six years ago. Other than having been constantly cold for the last 6 years, I am happy to call the windy city home. I'm grateful that, as a teacher, I am able to start each day in a new and different way. Being able to see the world through the eyes of my students and having the privilege to share ideas and experiences that I feel passionate about with them is wonderful. More than most professions, teaching allows you the to opportunity to continually grow and challenge yourself and each day I find reasons that confirm to me that this is what I most definitely should be doing.

I remember always loving music, especially singing – according to my mother I sang constantly from the time I was very little. The best part of being an artist and a teacher is that I feel I can make music real for my students because it is always a part of my life as well as theirs. They see that I (and all of the Performing Arts faculty) don’t just say that the Arts are important in people’s lives but that we all do that every day with teaching and our own performing and continued study. I greatly enjoy all kinds of music but must admit that if I had to pick one it would be musical theater – which combines the best of music and drama and was how I first became really interested in music – I think that I sang every song from every musical that I heard from the time I was about 11 years old. For my students – trust yourself and your ability and find the kinds of music that you love. There is a wonderful Zimbabwean saying – “If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing” – which I firmly believe.

The source of inspiration that led me to become a teacher was our two daughters. When our older daughter was 16 months old, we enrolled her in a pre-school that used the Montessori Method. It was astonishing to see what a young person was capable of doing, even at such an age, given an appropriate environment in which to thrive. For this reason, I decided to obtain my Montessori Early Childhood Development certification. Having done so, the most wonderful experience at that time of my life was being our younger daughter’s very first teacher. In our family’s home, we have always spoken both Spanish and English, and our daughters grew up in this bilingual environment. Because I am a native of El Salvador, our daughters grew up not only learning the Spanish language, but also the culture of my country. Our children always have been bilingual and bi-cultural. Having learned first-hand from our daughters how effortless it is for a young person to learn languages given the proper environment, I was and remain inspired to provide this opportunity to other young children. I joined North Shore Country Day School eight years ago as a Lower School Spanish teacher, and all these years have been fascinated to observe how my students absorb the Spanish language and its cadence, intonation and pronunciation. At the same time, they are learning Latin American culture, which in my experience is inseparable from the language itself.

My first experience with studio art was standing in a sun filled Kindergarten room, brush in hand at a pint size easel stocked with jars of brilliantly colored tempera paint. The choice to create art, attend art school, and teach the subject was my happy, natural progression. I’ve had the privilege of sharing my experiences in studio art with Upper School, Middle School and Lower School students and in turn, have had a front row seat to the best creative show imaginable, the dripping paint, the soaring sculptures, the descriptive line, and the twisted fibers, as students bring their energy, personality and creativity to light.

I got into teaching because I love working with children. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a teacher, but it was only during college that I discovered the joy of working with the elementary age. To have the chance to make an impact on the life of students as they are trying to make sense of the world and do so with so much energy and openness, is just such an amazing opportunity, responsibility and challenge. It’s that chance of helping each and every child, never fully being able to know what to expect, that makes it exciting to wake up and come to work at North Shore every day. In my time at North Shore, I have found myself blessed to be at a school that matches my commitment to individuals. Being around fellow faculty and staff who share my commitment to the highest of standards has challenged me to become a better educator and constantly pushes me to improve and refine my methods so that I can do my best in the service of students.