Hello! I am a secondary English/Language Arts teacher who has taught at Barnegat Schools since 2015. The 2022-2023 school year is my first at Horbelt, since my experience until now has been at the High School teaching Junior classes, Modern Poetry, Public Speaking, and Broadcast Journalism. Getting to work with students at an earlier stage is particularly intriguing to me because I know what skills they will need to thrive in the coming years of their academic lives. 

My cross-curricular proficiencies include the visual and performing arts, as I have an educational background in 2D art and graphic design as well as a continuing career as a pianist and performing musician. I always look for opportunities to incorporate the arts when we read and write together as a class. 

When comparing my classroom style to other life experiences outside of school, I often find similarities with gaming. Though video games can get a bad rap, there is something unique about a game that isn't available in other types of video media. While a movie or a TV show can flash colors, sound, and information to a room regardless of who is present and paying attention, a video game simply won't go on if there isn't a player. In fact, the player needs to be motivated to learn the rules and press YES to the "Continue?" screen after failure. The player is given structure and goals, but the player runs the show. Our classroom will be a lot less like a show and a lot more like a world with guidelines and objectives for the students to explore.