My students, peers, and colleagues describe me as dedicated, enthusiastic, approachable, resourceful, organized, innovative and knowledgeable teacher with a keen attitude and strong motivation for helping students. For me, two key aspects of teaching are: understanding how individuals learn and relating to the student's established knowledge base in order to build upon it. I teach by encouraging independent thinking and analytical reasoning to support problem solving skills - as apposed to simply memorizing material just to pass a test. I prompt students with leading question at every stage: how would you being?...why?..how?...what next? Confidence is built through achievement, and I believe that nothing prepares a student for success like getting the student to realize he or she can independently overcome large challenges by building his or confidence through smaller successes. The idea is to get a student to think logically through problems by providing guiding hints and baby steps, building on what they know, and leading them to the answer. I believe my role as a teacher is that of a leader where you have to show the path, motivate, encourage, and lead by example.

Hiking, cycling, golfing, hockey, glass blowing