I was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, and received my AA degree from Palm Beach Community College.  I moved to Tallahassee in 1990 to attend Florida State University where I received my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Special Education. My teaching career began at Belle Vue Middle School here in Tallahassee.  I taught ESE students who were mainstreamed into regular classes.  I taught in an inclusion setting, co-teaching with other language arts and math teachers for 13 years.  I then transferred to Raa Middle School for the next seven years.  There, I again co-taught with mainstreamed ESE students, and I taught reading for several years.  I transferred to Deerlake Middle School in 2013 and taught 6th grade language arts for three years and 8th grade language arts for eight years.  Starting the 2024/2025 school year, I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade Gifted and Talented language arts.   August 2024 starts my 31st year of teaching.