Teach out project

 

Ableism, as the Center for Disability Rights defines it, is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue or discriminate against people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities. The belief that disabled people need “fixing” or that there’s something wrong or bad about bodies and minds that work differently from what we’ve been taught to consider the norm. People form prejudice, ableism can be rooted in fear, ignorance or a lack of education. Even though as many as one in four Americans live with some sort of disability or chronic illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many people are uncomfortable talking about disability or interacting with disabled people, especially those with apparent physical or mental disabilities.

In the beginning of the article Penny she is Joe's mom. She knew her son was disabled but didn't realize the fight she would have for son's basic rights.  The world has negative assumptions concerning disabilities. While speaking to the social worker at a preschool they made it clear she shouldn't have the same dreams for her son as a parent with a non-disabled child. Another time she was told that she had to go through a period of mourning the arrival of her disabled child. Penny’s response was, “I have lost a child at birth and I have had a disabled child. I know the difference. My son is a gift, not a tragedy. This is terrible for a parent to hear. I can’t imagine a parent hearing that. 

Ableism in schools, according to the article an ableist perspective, students with  disabilities results in societal attitudes that assert that it is better for a child to walk than roll, speak than sign, read print than read Braille, spell independently than use a spell-check, and hang out with nondisabled kids as opposed to other disabled kids. Basically its preferable for  disabled students to do things in the same manner as nondisabled kids. 

Education of the Blind, The school Bias for against blind or visually impaired students. The schools have been against Braille and failing to teach it to blind and visually impaired is ableist assumptions. Reading Braille is a disability-specific method of reading.  The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), an advocacy organization of blind people, has taken a strong position favoring the teaching of Braille to blind children and those with other vision impairments. The controversy around Braille is the students that are visually impaired they can read large print or other accommodations. Another controversy with blind or visually impaired students' orientation and mobility services (O&M) they help teach students to walk around with a cane. Does a school provide assistance and 1:1. We have one blind student at our school who walks with a cane and has a 1:1 aid with him at all times. He uses a Braille typewriter for his work and has special services. The problem is when she is unable to attend school and they cant replace her he has to miss school. 

  To end ableism in education, schools need to continue to make everyone feel equal whether its race, gender, or disabilities.  The article had suggestions to help end ableism 

-Include disability as part of schools’ overall diversity.

-Special education should be specialized, The notion that once children are placed in special education they receive a different education should be rejected

-Encourage disabled students to develop and use skills and modes of expression that are most effective and efficient for them. 

 The school dept I work for does a great job with working on ableism in ours schools. We encourage all of our students to participate in activities, sports, school events etc. I have 4 special ed classroom and 6 co taught. We have students that work well in reg ed rooms and others that have difficulty. Every student learns differently and at different paces.  We are having our first unified basketball game at our elementary school. We are having our 5th graders and staff along with our special ed dept. Our senior prom last year our student with special needs was our prom queen. I think our schools have done a good job but still a work in progress. I attached a video of my students that appeared on channel 10. https://turnto10.com/news/local/promposal-prom-warwick-rhode-island-pilgraim-high-school-unified-program-sports-poster-bee-celebration-special-may-16-2023

 Literacy with Attitude

     The main idea of Literacy with an Attitude is the inequality in the American educational system. The education available to those children who take lower social roles does not provide them with opportunities to develop their potential and focus on critical thinking. started out talking about the differences in the types of students, economic status, ethnicity, gender and how differently they are treated in schools, and what the outcomes of their futures may be.

     In the first chapter, He discusses teaching classes of teachers. He focused on just applying what they thought they could implement in their classes. He wrote about his upbringing as the eighth of nine children, 6 boys 3 girls in a blue collared family. Dad was a plumber and five of his brothers became plumbers. He did not follow in his family's steps because of a birth injury, so he was encouraged to stay in high school.He went to a local teachers college and became a teacher. His first teaching job was teaching in a black neighborhood in Chicago's south side. The students were sorted by reading scores into 15 classes. He said he made the assignments easy so the least able student could do them and extra credit for students who finished early.  For 25 years he has been on the faculty of the Graduate School of Education at the State University of NY at Buffalo. He ended the chapter by reflecting on educating students for almost 30 years how to read, write, think, debate. He said he's teaching teachers how to teach language in elem.  He learned not to be so damn superior he learned from his hard bitten teachers. Don;t look down your nose at people out there teaching real children in real and sometimes dreadful circumstances. I think this goes for more than just teaching. Even in nursing people look down on nurses who dont work in a hospital and want to work in a nursing home as if it's not as important.

Chapter 2 Anyon talked about her study working in 5 different schools of different economic status. Working class learned to follow directions and do mechanical low-paying jobs while resisting authority. Middle class children learned if they cooperated they could get rewards with possibility. Affluent professional class learned to create products, art and negotiate from powerful position. Executive elite children were trained to rule the world. When Anyon asked what is Knowledge to different classes the answer was all different for every class of student.

     At the end of Chapter 2 she asked “Those who are the smartest and work hardest go furthest” Who's kidding whom? She continued to say When a student begins school in such different systems the odds are set for them.

 I think that is a strong statement and I can see how true that is with my students I work in a title one school, low income families that don't have much. Many of them don't have support at home, they have supportive teachers but not having parents or guardians to help guide them when they are not at school. I think it would be difficult for them in the future, not in all cases but for some.

https://youtu.be/laS1y4f_U2E

Sex and Gender-based Systems

    After watching the video and reading the articles I learned new pronouns that I never knew were used for someone's gender. I have always heard of he, she, her, him, they, and them but  I never heard of Ze or tree, so I read another article to find out more about the pronoun "tree"  Love Simon actor Keiynan Lonsdale uses the pronoun Tree because we all come from trees, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a he or a she or a they or a them. 

https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/keiynan-lonsdale-preferred-pronouns-tree-8477100/

   I work in the school dept in elementary and was previously in a high school. I had a kindergarten student that was born a male and identified as female, he wore dresses some days and boy clothes on other days.  In the elementary school, we had either a boy bathroom or girl bathroom no gender-friendly bathroom so he did use the nurse's bathroom when he felt uncomfortable. In high school, we have transgender students use the nurse's bathroom as well. Is it because of bullying or due to parent's complaints or are the students more comfortable coming to a private bathroom.  A gender-neutral bathroom should be available and not have to use a bathroom that is made and used by ill students.

 According to guidance from RIDE, the student may access the restroom, locker room, and changing facility that corresponds to the student’s gender identity. The Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education recognizes that all educational agencies must provide all people and groups with full access to educational opportunities and barriers to student participation based on sexual orientation or gender identity/expression must be identified and removed. The Board also recognizes that all students, without exception, have the right to attend a school in which they feel safe and able to express their identity without fear. So are they really attending school without fear, are they using the nurse's bathroom because they're concerned about their safety? We do have a great support staff in our elementary school and high school for our students and families.   It's still a work in progress as far as things that need to be changed. 

    I teach puberty class to our 5th-grade students every year, I have parents question what will be taught is it about transgender. I had a parent ask to review the video and paperwork for the class before allowing me to teach his child, this upset me. I'm not sure what he was so afraid of or why he made such a big deal, I hope in the future there will be fewer parents like him and more understanding supportive parents.  I spoke with a parent about transgender in elementary school and how she feels about it. She had a student who was born a male but identified as a female in her daughter's kindergarten classroom. She said she felt the school did a great job making all the students comfortable. The teacher asked what she would prefer to be called and introduced her to the classroom. This parent also said she was glad her child had her in the classroom at an early age because she knows it's not a big deal to her daughter it's just a normal thing to her. She also continued to say she doesn't think it matters what bathroom is used if there are stalls with doors on them. All parents should have a supportive attitude like this mother of 4, 

https://youtu.be/OePy0AjVU7s?si=Uea8VNus5cFXKt_v 

 The inclusion movement in education

     I find this topic important to me as a school nurse I worked in a high school and elementary setting. This topic has come up more and more. I have students, that are blind, deaf, autistic, and non-verbal. I think it's important for our teachers to have the skills necessary to develop the individualized programs that these children need. Today more and more students with disabilities are educated for more of the day in regular education classrooms.

    The article I read about blaming mothers of autism made me think more about how things need to continue to change. The idea is that a student with a disability isn't going to be employed or attend school, disability is not a tragedy. My daughter is a 6th-grade student in middle school she joined unified basketball, its a team of students with or without disabilities working together on the same team. This builds friendships and an understanding of each other

https://www.unicef.org/education/inclusive-education

Audience

I would like my audience to be my colleagues and staff. I think this is an important topic for the staff in my school to understand. I like including students in educating them about disabilities not to be afraid or to make fun of other students, help staff and students with acceptance and understanding

Format

There will be a slide presentation with my staff during our weekly meeting. Next week I have a presentation for our 5th grade students about inclusion. They will be attending middle school next year i think this topic is important for them as they grow and learn. They will have the option of inclusive sports in middle school and high school I hope with some education they will learn to be more accepting of their peers.

Tongue Tied 

Teaching Multilingual Children

"language is enchanting, powerful, magical, useful, personal, natural, All-important" The book Tongue Tied By Otto Santa Ana Gives first-person accounts into the lives of linguistic minority students and their experience in coping in school and beyond. Aria by Richard Rodriguez gives an inside story about growing up multilingual. While he was in 1st grade, he considered Spanish to be a private language he spoke at home with his family. His experience in school unfortunately didn't sound like a positive experience from nuns making him scared, afraid, nervous and at times sounds as if he was put on the spot in front of the class. For a young child, it would have been nice for his teacher to be able to greet him in Spanish so he didn't feel like he didn't belong or felt welcomed. He was silent in school until three nuns arrived at his home to speak with his parents. They asked if they spoke with him in Spanish at home and asked his parents “is it possible for you and your husband to encourage your children to practice their English at home?” Due to the fact this was a church asking this of them, they agreed. In the beginning, it worked ok practicing words after dinner. His parents spoke Spanish to each other but when he entered the room they spoke in English. By the time he was 7 he came to believe he was an American citizen but technically he was one since birth. His parents became more involved in the neighborhood learning their names. His family life became more and more quiet as they learned more and more English. They shared fewer words with their parents. They had to learn to speak slower so their parents would understand. He recalls he would have been happier about my public success had I not sometimes recalled what it had been like earlier. The chapter Teaching Multilingual Children by Virginia Collier Virginia has a little bit of a different take on multilingual children in the classroom, Virginia is a professor that recommends guidelines that orient teachers to approach their classes with confidence and offer parents and offers an idea of what to expect for their children. 1 Be aware that children use. First language acquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language The picture, that has emerged thus far from first language acquisition research, is that children actively engage in a gradual, subconscious, and creative proof-discovery procedure through which they acquire the rule system of the language 2 Do not think of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so-called “deficiencies” of your students. Instead, whether in English, Korean, Spanish, Greek, or Portuguese, you are working to develop the child's language as an effective instrument of intellectual growth. 3 Don’t teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language Instead of eradication, the most popular view among linguists and bilingual educators requires the teacher's conscious recognition of "bi-dialectism. To affirm the home language means that they will not be told that they are wrong. 4 Teach the standard form of English and students home language together with an appreciation of dialect differences to create an environment of language recognition in the classroom One of the most difficult things for teachers to do when teaching a second language to native speakers of other languages is to fully accept and give complete credence to the different languages and dialects they bring to the classroom. It is the social bias that language-minority students experience most often in school. 5 Do not forbid young students from code washing in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves. When bilingual people use both languages in speech, alternating between the two, they code-switch. Code-switching occurs at the word, phrase, clause, or sentence level. 6 Provide a literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English language learners Guideline #6 immediately generates a question. Which language is best for English-language learner literacy development: the home language. 7 Provide a balanced and integrated approach to the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the literate world, children become aware very early of the importance of written language through books, the media, signs, printed containers, logos, instructions. and endless forms of environmental print. They might first learn to read stories that they themselves dictated to their teacher, as well as through games, recipes. and maps Virginia stated “language is enchanting, powerful, magical, useful, personal, natural and all important. The reasons for activities in the classroom are to eliminate boredom, raise awareness and make language teaching as well as learning as culturally relevant. The hope is to make the learning process to enrich the lives of students as well as the teachers. After reading both articles I can see how life was different for Mr Rodriguez after speaking English more than their home language at home. I can understand a teacher asking parents to help with homework, or learning their words for school but not asking them to only speak English while at home, that takes away from their family dynamic, it's asking them to change their lives. I agree with Virginia Once a child becomes literate in the home language, literacy skills transfer to second language settings. Home language develops the benefit of a child's cognitive development oral and written. Many of my students are multilingual learners, we have a great MLL teacher that works with our students for part of the day. I have worked in a high school and elementary school. I don't speak Spanish so I have had to find a way to communicate with my students when they come to my office. I use Google Translate on my phone and online translating my emails or notifications before sending them to their parents. I think it important to work with all the school staff from teachers, principals, nurses, lunch aids, and building aids to have a plan when it comes to caring for our students, but when it comes to our MLL students I think it is important for our support staff to know how to communicate. I found a website while looking into this topic I found helpful as a school nurse.

  https://www.valentinaesl.com/blog/22-things-educators-can-do-now-to-support-multilingual-learners

 The article I chose this week was Blaming Mothers: A disability perspective. By Ruth Colker

In too many school districts, if a child has a disability, the mother is blamed for whatever difficulties occur. Most often, she is considered overly aggressive in advocating for her child or negligent for failing to do enough.

I chose this article mainly because I work in an elementary school with many special ed and behavioral children and a mother. I hear comments before and after meetings. When I have to attend IEP meetings for my students we see all kinds of parents, some that are more involved in their child's medical and education and then we have others that don't seem to care or maybe just don't understand This article gave good examples of different school situations with mothers wanting to get the right and appropriate care/education. 

According to the article, blaming the mother is a long-standing cultural tradition in the United States. Leo Kanner, the researcher credited with identifying autism as a specific neurological disorder in 1943, blamed it on “refrigerator mothers,” a term popularized by University of Chicago researcher Bruno Bettelheim, who drew parallels between these mothers and guards in Germany’s concentration camps. The "refrigerator mother" theory had a significant impact on mothers of autistic children. They were often blamed for their child's condition and were made to feel guilty and ashamed, even though they had done nothing wrong. Dorothy Roberts has documented the stereotyping of the mothers of so-called “crack babies,” even though medical research has failed to substantiate any such condition, syndrome, or disorder. Susan Okie calls it “the epidemic that wasn’t,” because cocaine’s effects on a fetus “are less severe than those of alcohol and are comparable to those of tobacco.” Race and wealth play a part as well, due to a woman being poor her baby has a low birth weight. 

There are 5 different examples of blaming mothers

Blame mother for incompetence

Blame  mother for being to assertive

Blame mother for being to passive

Blame mother for working outside the home

No easy solutions

The one I found pretty interesting was Blaming mother for incompetence. They gave an example of a mother that had a child that was deaf at 18 months old.  He had hearing aids by the time he was two, when he was 4 the school district determined he was eligible for special education for hearing impaired and speech. When he was 10 he received a cochlear implant but wasn't able to use it properly.  His communication skills was under 2 and his primary way to communicate was sign language. When he was  12 years old, his mother, Nancy Jimenez, requested that the school district  send her son  to a school for the deaf so he could be more thoroughly immersed in ASL (american sign language) and begin to make adequate educational progress. The school district refused the request and blamed his parents for his lack of progress. His mother was criticized for her son not receiving a cochlear implant til he was 11. This continued for 2 years with no progress. She found a lawyer, David Grey, to help her file a due process complaint on behalf of her son before an administrative law judge (ALJ). The judge held six days of hearings and rendered a decision two months later entirely in favor of the school district.  Her attorney Mr Grey appealed and won when he was 16. The judge found that the school had completely ignored the highly credible testimony of His Mother about the substantial language difficulties that he faced at school. He could not understand  an insult when another child called him a “stupid dork.” The school district’s “blame the mother” strategy ultimately failed, her son won unfortunately it took four years so according to the article he was the loser in this situation. The part of the article most interesting: is how long it took this mother to get the proper education this boy needed. The article was titled Blame Mother for Incompetence, nothing in this article shows she was incompetent. The school was incompetent and failed this family and student.

I started with this article and became interested in what is a refrigerator mom, I never heard of it before. So I looked into what is a refrigerator mom was. I found a video with a good understanding of what a refrigerator mom is. The documentary it is a little long but very interesting and sad to see how these parents were blamed for their child's autism The stories in the video are heartbreaking for these parents, some were told their child couldn't have autism because they're not white and educated. They recommended the child not to grow up with their families. The video shows very strong, dedicated mothers.

 Other People's Children 

Reading this article a few things caught my attention. Those with power are least aware of it or least willing to acknowledge it those with less power are often most aware of its existence. Lisa Delpit presents her views concerning the difficulties children of color face in American schools. The author suggests that these children are denied access to the “culture of power,” with its implied rules and codes that are advanced by members of white middle-class society.  Delpit maintains that to affect positive change, teachers of black students must be more successful as “cultural transmitters” and must find a way to educate these students about the system, while also affirming and validating their own culture. I am not a teacher, I am a school nurse I feel being a teacher can be challenging trying to teach the school criteria based on the school dept but also being able to be successful with their own culture and view while maintaining all the student's cultures and views I would think this would be difficult to keep everyone happy.

 She also states that we must acknowledge the issues of black teachers and parents, whose voices have been stifled by stereotypes, bias, and societal diminishment as part of “the silenced dialogue.”  In the book, Delpit uses her knowledge and experiences to advocate for an educational practice that provides equity for students of color by addressing the miscommunication among cultures that causes black students to fail.

Martha Demientif had a great quote “ We must learn to be vulnerable enough to allow our world to turn upside down in order to allow the realities of others to edge themselves into our consciousness”.

I liked how Amanda Branscomble taught her students she found a way to get to them. She worked with black high school students who were labeled “slow Learners” She found a way to get the students engaged in their educations. She had them analyze rap songs which turned into a base into Shakespeare plays, very similar to the movie Dangerous minds with Michelle Pfiefer who played Lou Ann Johnson.

I have seen this with some of our teachers trying to find a way to keep students engaged in learning,

We have to Listen to the way people talk not to judge them but to tell what part of the river they came from. ( Martha Demeintieff.)

Dangerous Minds

 What is Color-blindness? What does it  Look Like?

• I don't see color. I just see people. 

• We're all just people.

• I don't care if you're black, white, green, or purple-polka-dotted!

• #AllLivesMatter

These are some of the terms we hear and examples of colorblindness. 

Some may think colorblindness is a good thing,  It focuses on commonalities between people, such as their shared humanity. However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that in the end operates as a form of racism according to Monica T Williams Ph.D. Racism Is a strong term, but it looks at the issue straight in its unseeing eye. In a colorblind society, white people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order, and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society (Fryberg, 2010). Most people of color, however, who regularly encounter difficulties due to race, experience colorblind ideologies quite differently. Colorblindness creates a society that denies their negative racial experiences, rejects their cultural heritage, and invalidates their unique perspectives.

Blind means not being able to see things. I don't want to be blind. I want to see things clearly, even if they make me uncomfortable. I found this sentence to give a great perspective on colorblindness. 

My color insight note

I work in an elementary school with 340 students. We have approximately 60 staff members 58 are white and 2 are  black. Our principal is a white male and every teacher including teacher assistants are white, 3 male teachers, and all the rest are women. I have a population of MLL students around 25-30 and 15 black students. I have never really sat down and thought about my students and staff and how many are non-white until I started this class. 

My husband’s grandparents are from Ukraine, they immigrated from Ukraine to Poland and were sponsored by a family in New York to have them come to America. His Grandfather Arsen and grandmother Elgokia, she was pregnant with my father-in-law at the time and his uncle was 9. His grandmother was a seamstress and his grandfather was a locksmith. They later moved to Pawtucket with not much money. They never learned to speak English but both my father-in-law and his uncle learned English in the school system.(this reminds me of many of my student's families) When they came over to New York they said their last name in Ukrainian so we don't know if Our last name is spelled correctly and the proper pronunciation. I found this interesting. They were both 36 with 2 children, they were able to make a living and didn't speak a word of English. They had issues with people giving them difficulty because of the language barrier. I thought about them with this reading and video, coming to a new country with children not speaking English, and how were they treated, We get people who look at our last name and say I'm not even going to try and say that, it was hurtful and disrespectful to them. I found their original document when they arrived in NY in 1956.

 The Four “I's of Oppression are a common framework used to illustrate the ways systemic injustices can perpetuate in society and over time. Oppression comes from one group in society having more systemic power than others. Oppression is when the dominant group comes at the expense of the less powerful.

I found this topic interesting I have worked in the medical field for over 20 years from hospitals, nursing homes and school dept, where there is Institutional oppression. Oppression is there from the time we find out if were having a boy or a girl. We may not be aware at times but shows up in our daily life.

The 4 “I” of Oppression are

IDEOLOGICAL. This is oppression at the level of ideas, with any oppressive system having at its core the idea that one group is better than another. Oppression is rooted in value systems that allow people to dehumanize, exploit, or harm other individuals and groups. Because ideology often presents itself as “common sense” or a way of understanding the world, ideological oppression can have longstanding cultural and historical roots.

INSTITUTIONAL. Oppression is the way perpetuated socially through policies, laws, and social practices. This is oppression that is embedded at an institutional level (for example, in healthcare, the legal system, educational systems, and political systems).

INTERPERSONAL is the way internalized oppression is expressed between individuals or groups, both intentionally and accidentally. Interpersonal oppression has a wide spectrum of expression, from thoughtless comments (“women aren’t decisive leaders”) to violence. This is oppression that takes the form of personal disrespect from members of a dominant group towards members of a marginalized group. People in the dominant group may not be conscious of how they act oppressively.

INTERNALIZED addresses the way individuals absorb belief systems that then contribute to feelings of false supremacy or false deficiency within themselves in relation to others–especially those who are not part of the dominant social group. This form of oppression occurs when malicious and unjust messages become internalized as deeply held and lead to often unconscious beliefs about oneself and others. 

I found this video a simple explanation of the 4"I" of Oppression and the photo has great examples of Oppression that many people face every day.

 The Elephant in the room

Allan Johnson was a renowned American Sociologist and writer he was best known for writing about issues related to privilege, power, and social differences “the elephant in the room” He wrote about his own life as a white man, the privileges. Many people feel uncomfortable talking about including myself, afraid to insult someone, hurt them, or misunderstand. 

When I first began reading  I was upset, and offended by the term “white privilege” it sounds as if because I am white my life is easy or everything is handed to me. I feel when I hear white privilege it takes away or discredits all the hard work it took to get where I am in my life.  As I continued to read I could see his point on a few things. As a woman in the medical field/ school system I have found parents would rather listen to our male principal say the same thing I say but listen to him over females, which is insulting. I'm sure it's the same with race, culture, gender, sexuality.

Three points 

 1. Privilege is not something that individuals choose or can be blamed for, but it is a system of advantages that benefits certain groups over others in society others in society. 

2. Power dynamics and social inequality are deeply ingrained in our institutions and everyday interactions, perpetuating privilege and maintaining the status quo.

 3. Achieving true equality requires acknowledging and challenging our own privilege, actively working to dismantle oppressive systems, and promoting inclusivity and justice for all. 

Allan G. Johnson provides a valuable analysis of privilege as a systemic issue that perpetuates inequality. Johnson emphasizes that privilege is not a personal choice, but rather a system of advantages that benefits certain groups over others based on their social identities. He highlights the importance of recognizing privilege as a contextual and intersecting phenomenon and encourages individuals to reflect on their own privilege and use it to challenge systemic inequalities. By understanding and confronting privilege, individuals can work towards creating a more equitable and just society for all.

 The diagram in chapter 3  the diversity wheel, I agree with Allan Johnson it doesn't say much about the individual but more about the social reality that shapes our life. I tried imagining if I woke up a different race or gender would my life be different such as my career,  probably would be different. I know while in nursing school we had one male and he always got a comment from someone about him being a male nurse. We had older women in the hospital refuse to let him care for them due to his gender. I have also seen older women not allow women of color to care for them, so yes I believe my life/career would be different. 

 My name is Kelly, I am a wife, mother of 2 great kids, nurse, cheer mom, and cancer survivor.  My son, Nathan is a senior in high school. He likes to make movies and my daughter, Emily is in middle school. She is a cheerleader flyer the girl they throw in the air and on top of the pyramid. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 20 years but together for 27. We have 2 cats and a puppy. We love to go camping, hiking and traveling to our favorite place Disney.

Got to Meet Donnie Wahlberg at Foxwoods with my little blockhead, She's a NKOTB fan like her mom

My little Family

 I have worked in the medical field for around 24 years, For the last 4 years I have been working as a long-term sub-school nurse for the Warwick school dept. I recently accepted a position in an elementary school as a full-time nurse. This is my first year at RIC, and I am working on my school nurse teaching certification.

 My daughter Emily

My son Nathan 

Toby 

Mason and Shadow, unfortunately my first night at RIC Shadow passed away

My little Flyer 

Light camera action