The entirety of my professional career has been in the educational field, whether in settings of higher education, secondary education, or adult education. Teaching, tutoring, and mentoring are things that come naturally to me. The joy of education for me is providing students a safe space to learn, to be frustrated, to fail, to grow, to be messy, and use all of that to find their voice. Learning is incredibly hard, and many educational systems try to make it something rigid and inflexible. When students are boxed into limited curricula, learning styles, or unrealistic expectations, they will lose confidence and give up on their work. I try to break down those barriers to create a relaxed environment where students can embrace the messiness of learning; it’s only through repeated stumbling that one finds their voice.

Below is a summary of my time at the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity and Madison Southern High School, two educational settings I have spent much of my career in. You can find concrete products of work from my time at the Noel Studio on my Educational Resources Samples page and my Professional Development Leadership page.

Noel Studio for Academic Creativity

I worked from 2017-2020 as a Course-Embedded Consultant (CEC) at the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity, Eastern Kentucky University’s (EKU) campus writing center. As a CEC, I assisted freshman students in a developmental first-year writing course with their writing and reading assignments. We would have consultations in which they come to me to discuss writing assignments, whether it be a finished product, a germ of an idea they want to refine, or nothing at all – in which case we strive for an idea they feel comfortable exploring as writers. We also discuss critical reading strategies to help them comprehend and interpret the complex readings assigned in our class, as well as all classes they will encounter at EKU. My CEC position also allowed me to collaborate with fellow Noel Studio CECs, Noel Studio faculty, and English Department faculty – namely the faculty member whose class I was assigned to – to address student or Studio issues, come up with helpful learning resources, and lead and develop minilessons and seminars.

I was promoted in Summer 2020 to the position of Course-Embedded Consultant Coordinator, which I served in through the Fall 2020 semester, where I retained all of the duties of a CEC but also acquired additional leadership duties. My responsibilities as CEC Coordinator focused on developing professional-development seminars and modules for CECs to participate in during the Fall 2020 semester. I worked with Dr. Clint Stivers, Assistant Director of Writing and Communications Programs at the Studio, to adapt prior seminars to the unique situation that COVID-19 presents for EKU — namely taking in-person group activities and modifying them for an appropriate online setting. I also compiled and analyzed CEC consultation data using Google Sheets to develop assessments of what we at the Studio were doing right and what we could improve on. In addition, I served as a general peer mentor to all CECs, being available to address and assist any problems they encountered.

As well as my promotion, I have been recognized for my work at the Studio by being nominated for the Lee Stokes Award for Commitment to Student Success through Excellence in Consulting (Spring 2018) and Ron and Sherrie Lou Noel Award for Excellence in Service to Noel Studio Success (Spring 2019). In Fall 2019, I was appointed as the Student Representative for EKU’s Quality Enhancement Program (QEP), which is a campus-wide initiative to promote critical reading in courses across multiple disciplines in all grade levels at EKU. As QEP Representative, I attended semi-monthly meetings with the QEP Leadership team to discuss how the Noel Studio has been implementing and could better implement critical reading strategies and pedagogy into its work. I have also engaged in a number of academic projects, including flipping a freshman Anthropology course, proofreading the citations of an academic book, and presenting at an academic conference.

Madison Southern High School

I worked at Madison Southern High School in Berea, Kentucky from January 2021 to February 2022. My first role was as a Paraeducator working with independent learning students. Students in Madison County School District were presented with multiple learning options for the 2020-2021 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Option Three was independent distance learning, where students take self-paced classes on the website Edgenuity. I graded many student assignments completed on Edgenuity (my chief responsibilities center on grading AP US History and AP US Government courses, although I graded work in a great variety of other subjects regularly), and monitored student progress in Edgenuity classes. When students were behind in their classes or had low grades, I reached out to them and/or their parents to discuss tutoring options, as well as to provide motivation and encouragement. I reported details of our conversations and progress to relevant teachers, administrators, and counselors.

I was promoted in May 2021 to Testing Coordinator. As Testing Coordinator, I collaborated with guidance counselors, school, district, and state administrators, exam providers, and teachers to determine testing needs and implement assessments for our student body. When any given exam needed to take place, I also assumed the logistical duties regarding its implementation. I figured out what rooms and spaces needed to be used, I gathered requisite materials (calculators, exam questions and answer sheets, Chromebooks, etc.), I delivered preparatory aids to students, and facilitated exams when necessary to ensure a smooth process. I largely thought of it as an event planning position where the events were exams and assessments.