Oh Snap

2012-2013 was my first year teaching. My "initiation" was teaching ESOL in the morning at one school, and EIP reading and math at another in the afternoon. I taught K, 1, 2, 4, and 5. It was a breeze! In actuality, it wasn't a breeze, but I enjoyed my first year tremendously and loved coming up with new ways for the students could interact, work independently, and feel a sense of pride in their learning. Other details are that my previous career was landscape architecture and community planning. At the moment (while teaching full-time), I also maintain a successful photography business in Atlanta, GA - www.atwellphotography.com. I guess you could say that I like to stay busy.

Thanks to my work with ELL students, I encourage interaction and a managed chatter in my classroom. I think that through center work and games that all students learn the content and meet the standards while engaged and having a great time. The bonus to this style is that they learn to manage themselves, leaders emerge, and I allow them to teach each other.

I have presented at the GATESOL conference and at the ESOL conference at Kennesaw State University.

After leaving my career as a landscape architect, I returned to graduate school at Mercer and got my Master in the Art of Teaching. I also got my ESOL Endorsement from the University of Georgia.

I come from a line of teachers, language teachers to be exact. My grandmother taught French in Vietnam, my mom and aunt were ESOL teachers' aides, and my cousin also teaches ESOL. I learned to speak Vietnamese when I was four, and I absolutely love to see ELL grow during the course of the year! I've been married for two years, and our family is small, yet bursting with love between the husband and me and the little doggie. We hope to expand our family at any time.