Empowering Students and Educators through Project Based Learning
ABOUT
The Expert Adviser
How Greenlight PBL Works
Project-Based Learning can be challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. Too often, teachers and students who wish to embark on a PBL journey don't know where to start or, when they do start, are told their ideas "won't work". That's why I started Greenlight PBL. Through targeted consulting services, tailored to your specific needs, I am here to help you find your way forward - giving you the Green Light to run with your ideas and the support to help you make them successful. I have decades of experience teaching in and leading Project-Based learning schools and my feedback and coaching is honest and positive. My first priority is always helping you bring your dream and vision to fruition. I will team up with you to provide adaptability (fits within your parameters) and scalability (growth as big as you want) for your project design ideas, or support you in coming up with project ideas or curriculum to support your projects. I have been serving education clients throughout the U.S. and abroad for the last 15 years - get in touch to start working with me to plan and implement PBL into your classroom, school, or district.
My Expertise
I hold a double major in English and Journalism from Grand Valley State University and a Teaching Degree from Saginaw Valley State University.
I also hold a Masters in English Literature from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in 19th Century Literature from Purdue University. I have taught at the collegiate level at both BGSU and Purdue, as well as at Ivy Tech State University and University of San Diego and currently at Central Texas College.
For over 15 years I worked with the High Tech High public charter school system. I taught 9 - 12th grade Humanities, was the school director for two of the high school campuses for 6 years, and taught classes in the Graduate School of Education and the Teacher Credential Program. In the Fall of 2019 I am returning to the High Tech High Community as an Education Specialist, serving and supporting the special education student population for HTHNC.
I have led workshops and coached teams of teachers in Introduction to Project-Based Learning, Advanced Project-Based Learning, Assessments through Project-Based Learning and Project Design, Planning, and Exhibition across the United States, in South Africa, Canada, and Israel. I have also worked with school and district leaders, nationally and internationally, in structuring their approach to PBL and supporting their teachers in ongoing PBL instruction. I am also a certified PBL Coach through PBL Works (formerly Buck Institute for Education).
My Story
After working in the television and communications industry after undergraduate graduation, I felt something was missing, I loved what I was doing and the creativity that came of working on small teams promoting new television shows (well, new at the time - Party of Five, for example) for Fox Television, but I wasn't making an impact in the way I had once hoped. I decided to return to school for a teaching credential and knew immediately when classes began I had made the right decision. However, when I actually started teaching (student teaching), I was handed a teacher's edition of a textbook and told by my classroom supervisor, that I was student teaching underneath: "I live down the block, so just call me if you have any questions and I can come back in."
Six months later I found I had navigated my way through my first semester of student teaching, having taught two classes that I didn't have any formal training in, having gotten physically attacked by a student who earned a failing grade on an exam, and having lost a student to a drunk driving accident.
To say that my student teaching experience was chaotic is an understatement.
When I began teaching full time several states away, I cannot say the experience was any less chaotic. I was given 6 different preps because I was "the new kid", my class size for all but one class was 42-44 students. My classroom did not have any windows, not enough desks, and not enough books. I was in a "good district" but the classes were so siloed that most of the students in my 9th grade English classroom were barely reading at 3rd and 4th grade levels. I was handed a curriculum that none of the students engaged with and given no professional development to support my planning and teaching - I was told to follow the pacing guide from the department and to "read along" the "teacher says this" sections of the textbook.
When I spoke up in a department meeting offering to share some curriculum I'd developed for a lesson coming up if someone wanted to share ideas for the lesson they were doing currently so I could try and better engage my students, nobody said a word.
And then the department chair, who had been there for years and taught only AP and Honors classes, came to my classroom, shut the door, and scolded me for my question in the meeting. "WE don't do that here," she said. I asked, "Do what?" and she said "share."
I used my prep period that day to search for other jobs. By the end of the week I had an updated resume and an interview scheduled.
This was not why I went into teaching. It was not how I was going to spend my career in education. It was not fair to me - but more, it was not fair to students.
I wanted more. I wanted to be someplace I could make change and help students see themselves as agents of change as well.
For the next 15 years I made it my mission to make students see themselves as those agents of change, and help teachers find their passion and voice again.
When I created Greenlight PBL, while I do focus on project-based learning as an avenue and a tool, my end-goal was to support teachers in bringing equitable, valuable, meaningful, and continuously inspiring experiences to every student they teach. This includes helping administrators find ways to re-imagine school and classroom spaces, teachers engaging in creating collaborative community learning experiences, re-thinking assessments for student learning, and providing access to every student to a learning environment that both nurtures and inspires them.