Teaching
University of South Florida
I began my journey in higher education as a Learning Skills Specialist for the Academic Support Center at the USF Morsani College of Medicine. I developed a "shadow curriculum" that provided first and second year medical students supplemental information and practice tests for their first two years of coursework. I developed and managed the peer-tutoring program in which second year tutors were teamed with first year students to review content and test taking strategies. By the end of my tenure, the peer tutor program had 55 tutors and over 170 participants. I was also the co-lead facilitator for the study skills workshops for graduate and medical students, met with physician assistant, graduate, and medical students one-on-one to provide personalized learning plans to meet their individual needs.
I transitioned to the USF St. Petersburg campus to begin my career as the Graduate Advisor for the College of Education. Each semester I was tasked with managing over 150 students' admission, progression, and graduation for over 8 different graduate level programs. Within the College of Education, I was also the adjunct instructor for the following courses:
SCE 6855 Elementary Biology and Ocean Sciences: Fall 2019 and Fall 2021
SCE 6876 Middle Grades Biology and Ocean Sciences: Fall 2020
SLS 1107 University Success: Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Summer 2019, Spring 2020
IDS 2378 Interdisciplinary Knowledge and Learning: Summer 2020, Summer 2021, and Summer 2022
Due to my creative teaching practices in the higher education classroom, I won the College Award for Excellence in Clinical Faculty Teaching for the College of Education in 2020. This award highlights excellence pedagogy and innovative curriculum in the higher education classroom. I earned this award due to my implementation of educational technology in the classroom, such as augmented reality, transformative teaching methods, and relentless support in student success.
In addition to graduate advising and adjunct teaching, I was also a facilitator in the STEM Lab. Students from informal and formal educational backgrounds ranging from kindergarten through adulthood would visit the STEM Lab to experience innovative learning experiences. I taught groups of students how to code and operate VEX Robots, explore the world through virtual reality, and guided hands on learning experiences through MERGE Cube Augmented Reality. The STEM Robotics Summer Camp won the 2019 Insight into Diversity Award. At this time, I was responsible for developing the student activity workbooks, Qualtrics surveys to collect staff and student feedback, co-facilitating activities, and analyzing program data for the director.
Professional Developments
In 2019 I was the Project Manager of the $80,000 Duke Energy STEM Summer Boot Camp. Over the course of three days, 55 Pinellas County Schools teachers were trained to use a variety of classroom hardware and software including augmented reality, virtual reality, coding, VEX robotics and 3D printing. Data was collected from the participants in the form of entrance surveys, exit surveys, and delayed post-surveys. My duties included developing each survey utilized for data collection, coordinating the application process and admission into the professional development, designing the cohort-style schedule so each participant receive the best learning experience, and analyzing the data for future research presentations.
In 2021 the project was funded for $50,000 for a four day virtual boot camp. In addition to the duties of the 2019 camp, I was tasked to coordinating the online learning for 30 participants by ensuring hardware delivery to each person prior to the event, organizing virtual meeting rooms for simultaneous cohort meetings, and troubleshooting technical problems that arose for participants and faculty members.
Immersive Education
In February 2022, I joined Immersive Academics for an "Archeological Dig" at Glen Allen Elementary School in North Port, Florida. We brought what was one "unattainable" science right to their classrooms as we modeled the research of archeologists and paleontologists in their own backyard! Students engaged in scientific research, collected data and evidence to explore their hypotheses, and created evidence based presentations to share their findings.
Middle School Comprehensive
& Life Sciences
& Life Sciences
After six months as a Marine Life and Environmental Educator for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, I decided to trade the research boat for the traditional classroom. I absolutely loved the opportunity to mold the minds of future scientists!
I taught 7th grade advanced and regular comprehensive life sciences at Largo Middle School in Pinellas County, Florida. The curriculum included a mix of physical science, earth and space science, and life sciences. Largo Middle School is a Title I school, in which most of the students receive free or reduced lunch. I transitioned to 6th grade advanced and regular Life Sciences at Lake Nona Middle School in Orange County, Florida, while I pursued my Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary Biology at the University of Central Florida. I integrated numerous educational technologies into my teaching such as Kahoot!, EdPuzzle, Socrative, Google Expeditions, and digital science notebooks. After completing my degree, I taught at 7th and 8th grade comprehensive sciences at Azalea Middle School in Pinellas County, Florida, before transitioning into higher education.
