For me, teaching is not just a job or a career, but it is what I am. Teaching is an honorable profession, one that I am honored to be a part of. As a teacher, my main objective is to create a positive learning environment where my students are eager to explore, take risks, share ideas, and acquire knowledge. Through my enthusiasm and energy, I try to make learning fun and challenging. I strongly believe that linking the curriculum to real life experiences also helps my students become motivated to learn. Using examples from the student’s "real world" enables them to discover, remember, and apply subject material. I combine this with reading, lecturing and group work to facilitate all learning styles. Since people are born with an innate curiosity about the world in which they live, I believe that my role is to facilitate students in the process of becoming lifetime learners. In the pursuit of developing lifetime learners I seek to develop questioning, critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills which extend beyond the classroom and into their lives.

My ultimate goal is not to teach students English or communication skills, but to teach them to learn. I want to show my students that life is enjoyable, and there is something worth learning every day. I want them to enjoy picking up a book, reading about other cultures and experiences, looking at life through other windows, and then writing and talking about their joys and challenges as they journey through time. If I can challenge just one student to life-long learning, then I can truly say I have been a teacher.

Classroom Goals 

• Provide students with a sound academic foundation in English and communication skills.
• Promote learning as a lifestyle.
• Encourage curiosity and creativity.
• Challenge students to better and extend themselves
• Foster personal responsibility and accountability
• Recognize students as individuals with varied abilities, talents, and backgrounds.
• Develop opportunities for cooperation among students.

Family 

My two children have been established in their careers for several years. My daughter Julie is presently a freelance writer in greater San Diego after working as a copywriter, a features writer for various health care organizations, and a communications specialist for Toyota. She has written many of the radio and TV commercials for Toyota of Carlsbad and designed numerous advertisements for some of the major blue chip companies in America. She also writes poetry and editorials for PBS radio. My son Joshua is a sales and lease consultant for Hoehn Honda in Carlsbad. He plays drums for a musical group called Ropers, and is pursuing further education at Mira Costa College. I have been a teacher at Miramar College for over fifteen years in both the English and Communication departments. Before coming to Miramar, I was a teacher at Purdue University, Grace College, and Christian Heritage College. My professional writings include English and speech textbooks, and numerous scholarly articles in the field of English. I also am a published poet and author of short stories. My hobbies are reading, writing, jogging, gardening, fishing, and hiking.