MS Assistant Principal

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Greetings from the ASFM Middle School!

Thank you for visiting the ASFM website. On my page you will find information about me, my philosophy of education, my email link, my blog link, my feedback survey links, and links to information regarding ASFM and the ASFM Middle School.

Please take a minute to complete one of my feedback surveys (top left corner) or send me an email.  I’d love to hear from you!

I am originally from Tucson, Arizona.  In 1994, I received my BA in Liberal Studies from Vanguard University in Southern California.  I completed additional course work for a Middle School Endorsement in 1998.  I received my M.Ed in Education in 2000 and my MA in Educational Leadership in 2002.  I received my Doctorate in Educational Administration from Seton Hall University in 2009.

I taught middle school and high school mathematics, science, and physical education before moving into administration. I was a head basketball coach and took teams to participate in international basketball tournaments in Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland. Before coming to ASFM, I worked at the American School of Brasilia, Brazil for seven years, the last four as the Secondary Principal. This is my fourth year at ASFM.

I have served as an accreditation review team member with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).  I have given presentations and attended numerous educational conferences including the Association of American Schools in Mexico, Association of American Schools in South America, the College Board, and the International Baccalaureate Organization.

I enjoy spending time with family, cooking, reading, playing basketball, watching sports, and traveling.

My personal philosophy of education has continued to develop over the fifteen years of my experience as an educator. I believe that the purpose of schooling is to teach all children what it means to be a functioning member of a society. Schools must prepare students by teaching them not only to be productive citizens in the country in which they live, but in the Global community as well. However, parents cannot let the school system raise their children. I believe school alone cannot prepare students. Rather, parents must provide and be accountable for their children’s early education and continue to supply support and guidance throughout their child’s educational career and lives. Schools and parents must work together to do what is in the best interest of the child. I believe in developing strong home-school alliances.

I believe each individual child deserves the best opportunity to learn that the school can provide. Every child is capable of learning, and it is the responsibility of the school to help each child find success. As a principal, I believe teacher appraisal systems should promote sound educational principles, fulfillment of the school mission, and focus on student achievement so that the educational needs of students and the larger society are met.

I believe effective schools have curriculum documents that clearly identify learning targets for what students should know and be able to do at the completion of each course or grade level. Teachers should use the curriculum documents to deliberately plan for instruction. Teachers should adopt instructional strategies that are research-proven to help learners retain, use, and apply information. A teacher should come to school with a smile and be ready to help children learn.

I believe teachers will improve student achievement when they track student progress according to identified learning targets. Once the curriculum has been established and the instruction is planned, teachers should design tasks to gain evidence of student understanding and keep records to document how well the students are performing. Once the teachers are tracking student data, teachers can use the data to correlate classroom data with external test data, to make program changes, and to make individual student recommendations.

All teachers must set clear, challenging, and reachable goals for all students. By setting high expectations for all students, students will rise to the level of expectations that are set. Students should be actively involved in their learning and teachers should use a variety of assessment tools. I believe that computers should be used as much as possible and included in the curriculum. I believe in allowing opportunities for students to do enrichment activities. I believe that students develop as people when given the opportunity to interact in different situations and discover what interests and talents they posses.

Lev Vygotsky’s philosophical views on children and learning, namely that children learn through experience and social interaction, have influenced my ideas regarding education. The ideas support my belief in the use of cooperative learning. I have also been influenced in this area by a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The skill to do comes from doing.”

The ideas of Skinner and behaviorists regarding extrinsic motivation and positive reinforcement have helped me confirm my beliefs regarding classroom management. My beliefs in the importance of teachers to be positive and “come to school with a smile” have been developed by the Reconstructionist views (George Counts) on the potential power of the teacher.

John Dewey once said, “The problem is not the educability of the child but the ingenuity of teachers in finding ways to help each child learn.” This statement has influenced my thinking about setting high expectations for students and finding ways to help all students achieve their very best. As far as the idea of achieving one’s best is concerned, the great basketball coach John Wooden has influenced me. He defines success to be “the self satisfaction that comes from knowing that you have done your very best to become the very best that you can be.” These are just some of the ideas and people that have influenced my current philosophical platform.

Again, thank you for visiting and best wishes!