My Story....
For as far back as I can remember, I loved playing school with my friends. But, what is really interesting is that I never understood my own teachers in school. The ways my teachers taught, made no sense to me. So, I would sit in class, look at the work, and devise ways of teaching it to myself based on things I had learned out of school through reading, playing, watching TV, talking to friends and adults in my life, and experimenting on my own. Making these connections for myself made learning interesting to me, though, so I always enjoyed my time in school.
Even though I always wanted to be a teacher, I didn't get to teach in an actual classroom for many years. In the meantime, I married, had two children and moved to France to learn French. After one year in Albertville, France I moved to the village of Savalou in the West African nation of Benin (where we had only 5 hours of electricity per day and limited water services). There I used my passion for teaching to teach English to high school students, teach village women who had not had the opportunity to attend school to read in their local language (Fon), and teach women how to run sustainable and profitable small businesses in order to support their families.
Also during those 5 years, I homeschooled my own two children from grades preK-5. Because shipments from the USA to Benin could take anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 years (and there was no internet), getting curriculum was difficult. So, I wrote my own. As I met other parents who lived in remote areas of the country, away from adequate schools, I realized that they felt unprepared to both teach and write curriculum. In response to that need, I started weekend "cluster schools" every other month where we all met at a central location. The kids enjoyed group activities planned by me and carried out by local Peace Corps volunteers. And, the parents attended seminars about teaching and group brainstorming sessions about curriculum, presented and coordinated by me. During the months between these cluster school weekends, I also consulted with individual parents to help them build and/or adapt their curriculum to their needs.
Upon returning to the USA I continued to homeschool my own two children up until high school (grade 9). During those years, I met five other families who wanted to homeschool their kids but either did not have the time or felt unprepared. So, I homeschooled their kids along with mine. Our one room school, "Monkey Mountain Academy", housed up to 9 students at a time in five different grade levels. In addition to that, three of the students struggled to overcome severe dyslexia and ADHD while three were extremely gifted.
During this time I co-wrote a business plan and became a co-owner in a rock climbing gym. My main role in the business was to develop a youth climbing program. Within two years, I had helped start rock climbing clubs in 6 high school, 3 private schools, and 4 middle schools. I had also founded both a youth club program and youth competitive team in the gym. The youth club program served over 70 climbers ages 5-18 and the team produced 8 national champions, 2 world champions, and won the sportsmanship award two years in a row. As part of this process I also wrote a climbing team manual and training program.
Once my own children entered school full time, I went back to school to update my teaching certificate. While I took classes, I was also a permanent sub for a public middle and high school in the city. In that role I was able to be an AVID tutor, which was tremendously rewarding. Once I finished my classes I was immediately hired at the Indianapolis MET, which is an inner city charter school that is part of The Big Picture Network. This was an innovative school where I taught 19 (mostly at-risk) 9th graders and coordinated all of their projects, credits, online courses, and internships. Then I moved to Georgia and worked in both a public, Title I, middle school teaching English and Math, and in a high school for troubled students where I taught all the high school English courses. When my son went to college, I moved to Venezuela where I taught middle school humanities, math and PE at a small private American school. Now, I live in Colombia and teach in a large American school. I previously taught middle school English and am now a technology integration coach and technology teacher.
(CONTACT ME AT...shawntel.e@gmail.com)
Even though I always wanted to be a teacher, I didn't get to teach in an actual classroom for many years. In the meantime, I married, had two children and moved to France to learn French. After one year in Albertville, France I moved to the village of Savalou in the West African nation of Benin (where we had only 5 hours of electricity per day and limited water services). There I used my passion for teaching to teach English to high school students, teach village women who had not had the opportunity to attend school to read in their local language (Fon), and teach women how to run sustainable and profitable small businesses in order to support their families.
Also during those 5 years, I homeschooled my own two children from grades preK-5. Because shipments from the USA to Benin could take anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 years (and there was no internet), getting curriculum was difficult. So, I wrote my own. As I met other parents who lived in remote areas of the country, away from adequate schools, I realized that they felt unprepared to both teach and write curriculum. In response to that need, I started weekend "cluster schools" every other month where we all met at a central location. The kids enjoyed group activities planned by me and carried out by local Peace Corps volunteers. And, the parents attended seminars about teaching and group brainstorming sessions about curriculum, presented and coordinated by me. During the months between these cluster school weekends, I also consulted with individual parents to help them build and/or adapt their curriculum to their needs.
Upon returning to the USA I continued to homeschool my own two children up until high school (grade 9). During those years, I met five other families who wanted to homeschool their kids but either did not have the time or felt unprepared. So, I homeschooled their kids along with mine. Our one room school, "Monkey Mountain Academy", housed up to 9 students at a time in five different grade levels. In addition to that, three of the students struggled to overcome severe dyslexia and ADHD while three were extremely gifted.
During this time I co-wrote a business plan and became a co-owner in a rock climbing gym. My main role in the business was to develop a youth climbing program. Within two years, I had helped start rock climbing clubs in 6 high school, 3 private schools, and 4 middle schools. I had also founded both a youth club program and youth competitive team in the gym. The youth club program served over 70 climbers ages 5-18 and the team produced 8 national champions, 2 world champions, and won the sportsmanship award two years in a row. As part of this process I also wrote a climbing team manual and training program.
Once my own children entered school full time, I went back to school to update my teaching certificate. While I took classes, I was also a permanent sub for a public middle and high school in the city. In that role I was able to be an AVID tutor, which was tremendously rewarding. Once I finished my classes I was immediately hired at the Indianapolis MET, which is an inner city charter school that is part of The Big Picture Network. This was an innovative school where I taught 19 (mostly at-risk) 9th graders and coordinated all of their projects, credits, online courses, and internships. Then I moved to Georgia and worked in both a public, Title I, middle school teaching English and Math, and in a high school for troubled students where I taught all the high school English courses. When my son went to college, I moved to Venezuela where I taught middle school humanities, math and PE at a small private American school. Now, I live in Colombia and teach in a large American school. I previously taught middle school English and am now a technology integration coach and technology teacher.
(CONTACT ME AT...shawntel.e@gmail.com)
