Her teaching career began after earning a B.A. in Coastal Ecology and Policy (Hampshire College, Amherst, MA) and an M.S. in Marine Biology (Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA). Wanting to share her love of science and nature with children and excite their curiosity, she worked at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA as a Science Education Associate. From there, she took an in-depth summer course learning how to teach physics concepts through inquiry. She continued on to an innovative primary school in Seattle called University Child Development School. Due to a change of job for her husband, her family relocated to Pittsburgh, PA, where she taught Earth and Physical sciences at a private all-girls’ school, The Ellis School. After two years in Pittsburgh her family decided to take the leap over the Atlantic and return to her husband’s home of Bratislava. In Bratislava she worked at QSI for several years, teaching the Year 4 class. Five years ago, she took an opportunity to explore Montessori teaching methods at The Children’s House kindergarten on Koliba. It was an eye-opening and rewarding experience and greatly informed her next adventure – EISB. She began teaching Year 1 at EISB in 2015, followed by two years as the Year 2 teacher and now teaches Year 3. Last year, alongside teaching, she completed a post-graduate education program with the University of Nottingham in the UK. Her studies focused on: teaching for sustainability, using poetry to teach English, collaborative group work, and evaluating student understanding through Scratch programming. Overall, her teaching reflects her background studying science. Life-long learning, inquiry, critical thinking, wonder and surprises are components of both. She makes a strong effort to recognize the individual nature of each child and help them to thrive and be successful on their learning journey.
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