Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

This is my 3rd year as a classroom teacher. I teach computer technology and media literacy which are two requisite skill sets as students becoming engaged and contributing members of the global society.

It is a thrill to be teaching in a field where the content and tools are constantly changing. It demands that I stay up on "the new things" and continually differentiate between the mere trends versus invaluable tools.

This year highlights from class have included: live-tweeting the Republican Presidential debates; exploring the causes/factors or the digital divide; debating a future with A.I. and critically examining contemporary issues of technology and the law like cyber-bullying, online privacy and illegal downloading.

My vocation is education. I know it will be a guiding light throughout every job I will have. In the next few year intend to pursue a graduate degree in law or public policy as I begin to focus on the administrative and policy level of improving education and supporting students.

Work History

• Thurgood Marshall Academy
• Tech Teacher & Portfolio Coordinator
• August 2009 to Present

• I teach 2 computer courses. The first "Apps 1" is a basic computer literacy required course for our incoming 9th graders. We explore hardware/software function and vocabulary, Gmail tools, Internet research and legal issues and explore the 3 pillars of the MS Office Suite (Word, PPT, XL).

  Apps 2, my second course is a paperless online media literacy course that explores the tools, skills and ethics of journalism and media. Student's get to blog, tweet, and utilize all the Google profile tools as they explore contemporary events through a critical and scrutinizing lens. The students are able to explore the social networking tools from an academic and professional lens in order to practice and employ the use of these tools in college and professional life.

• Thurgood Marshall Academy PCHS
• Programs Associate
• August 2008 to August 2009

• As a year-long Ameri-Corps volunteer, I was placed at the school (where I currently teach) as an out of school time Programs Associate. I worked along the other volunteer staff coordinating mentoring events, after school homework help, weekend community service trips and supervised the Anti-Defamation League's Peer Training after school club and the Drama Club.

• Nansen Dialogue Network
• Project Associate
• June 2007 to December 2007

• As a student of conflict resolution and mediation, I was fortunate to study abroad in Norway for a semester and participate in an invaluable internship experience at the Nansen Dialogue Network (NDN) in Lillehammer, Norway. NDN created 10 different community dialogue and peace centers throughout the former Yugoslavia (Balkans) countries in response to the conflict of the 1990s.

  As a project associate, I was privileged to visit 5 of these 10 centers in Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. I participated in formal peace dialogues, researched granting strategies for NDN, and coordinated a summer youth dialogue conference that brought college-aged youth from different war torn eastern European countries together to explore the principles of dialogue and its application to conflict management and everyday life.

Education

• Pacific Lutheran University
• Communication & Media, Conflict Resoultion, International Conflict & Politics, Religion
• 2004 - 2008

• Hogskol i Hemark
• 2007 - 2007

• Studied abroad for a semester. Work on classes in international conflict resolution and relations. Further explored skills in peace negotiations and mediation.