I’m Rebecca!
Thanks for popping by. As a fellow educator and homeschooling parent, I know the challenges of supporting diverse learners in the classroom and in your own family. I know how challenging it can be to balance the work required to implement high-quality differentiated instruction with personal and family responsibilities.
Before transitioning to homeschooling, I worked in public education for over 15 years. During that time I wore many hats —from special education teacher to instructional coach. Today I am homeschooling two of my three children, each with their unique learning needs, including one who is gifted and two with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD. This personal experience has not only deepened my professional expertise but also enriched my understanding and compassion for diverse educational needs.
Throughout my teaching career, I’ve engaged with students across various spectrums – special needs, gifted learners, those dealing with trauma, and English language learners. My time in the classroom has been diverse, teaching from pre-K to middle school, including managing a multi-grade classroom for students with social-emotional and behavioral disabilities.
Academically, I’m armed with teaching certifications in multiple areas and hold degrees in Psychology, School Psychology, Educational Administration, and Curriculum & Instruction. I’m currently pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Psychology, continuously seeking to broaden my knowledge and skills.
My Favs
Fav Coffee
Anything Iced!
Fav TV Show
Fav Self-Care
Reading
Fav HOliday
Christmas
How Differentiated Teaching Got Started
I know the difficult balance of creating differentiated lesson plans while balancing your personal & family time. This is why I create ready-to-use, evidence-based activities and lesson plans designed to be rigorous and approachable to your learners. I also share tips, tools, and strategies for collecting data and implementing classroom interventions to help you build your students’ foundational skills and document your efforts.
In 2012, I had my daughter and began creating and sharing classroom resources on Teachers Pay Teachers to stay connected to teaching while I was on maternity leave. I loved being a part of the global teacher community, and I’ve been working to pursue this passion ever since.
Since then, we’ve grown into a family of five. When my son was born a few years ago, I knew it was time to take a break from the classroom so that I could help coordinate things here at home.
At that time, I had one kiddo identified with dyslexia and another with speech and motor issues, and we were spending lots of time at appointments each week. Staying in the classroom made it difficult to fit those services in, so I decided to put my family first.
Nearly six years later, all three kiddos are school-age, and we are navigating dyslexia and dysgraphia diagnoses with ADHD for one of the kiddos. The other two have some unique needs as well, and homeschooling has allowed them more opportunities for personalized education and interventions that have supported their learning progress more appropriately.
What I Believe About Learning
- Learning can be fun and engaging without sacrificing rigor.
- Differentiation accelerates growth by setting students up for success.
- Students put in more effort when we build relationships first.
- Learning isn’t just for the kids – we need to keep growing as educators, too.
- You can reach all students without sacrificing your personal or family life.
