A Little About Me

I never knew I wanted to teach. I didn't consider myself to be someone who could educate children and be effective at it. I obtained my Bachelor degree from Stony Brook University in Psychology and my last semester there I enrolled in an Infant and Young Child class. Being young and clueless I didn't realize this class would shape my future career choices. Following my graduation from Stony Brook I enrolled in Dowling College's graduate program for Childhood Education/Students with Disabilities grades 1-6. My whole teaching career has been about Special Education. I've worked in self contained up until this past school year when I made the jump to a first grade inclusion classroom. My first teaching experience was in an Autism preschool 6:1:4 class. My students were ages 3-5 and super cute and educational to say the least. I learned a lot about how the mind works and just how Autism affected my students. I became proficient at utilizing RDI and saw my students make wonderful progress with it. Following my preschool experience, I worked for a private elementary school for Autistic students and used the ABA approach while following an adaptive general education curriculum. I mapped the whole ELA curriculum for grades K-2, piloted various reading and math programs in my class and became one of the first classrooms to have a SmartBoard installed. I then made the jump to the NYC public school system. I worked for 2 years in a District 75 school for Autistic students. While there I created an adaptive curriculum that was aligned to the Common Core Standards, Units of Study and Webb's DOK. Currently, I work in a first garde ICT room as the Special Education Teacher. It has been an amazing and challenging experience. On the side I work for iMedia.fm who is developing a fun and educational learning platform that will motivate and inspire children to become lifelong learners. Visit http://playa7.com/ to learn more. Stay tuned for more updates!