Hello! My name is Susan and I live in Melrose where I was born and grew up and pretty much lived here all my life except for time away for academic studies. My primary education was with the Melrose Public Schools: an elementary, middle and high school.
I have been substitute teaching pre-K-12 with the Melrose Public Schools since 2006 both special needs and non-special needs students. I have also been substitute teaching with the Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield and Danvers schools through Kelly Educational Staffing. All of my experience has been in the classroom. I also enjoy teaching one-on-one.
I especially like English and English Literature, English Grammar, Writing, Poetry, Theology, Philosophy, Science, Geography, Digital Photography, Art and Music Appreciation (though neither an artist nor musician, although I have studied classical guitar for four years and baroque recorder for several years. I would not hire myself at this point to teach music!)
Substitute teaching has been my venue while job searching for work I have done for a living and that is Administrative-Executive Assistant work primarily with higher education and healthcare at Boston College and major Boston teaching hospitals. I do have pretty strong computer and other office skills to teach.
My undergraduate studies consisted of three semesters of Business/Liberal Arts at Marymount College/ Boca Raton, FL, with honors in Business; a BA degree majoring in Philosophy/Theology, and some Psychology from Boston College; an MA degree in Pastoral Ministry/Spirituality with a 3.9 GPA; and post-graduate studies in the Practice of Spiritual Direction, earning certification in Spiritual Direction.
I very much appreciate process and methodology in teaching/learning. Each student learns in his/her own way and at his/her own pace. I like discovering the ways in which the student learns best. I also advocate respect and protection of life in every classroom. Last year in one of my freshman classes, a student decided to kill a beautiful carpenter ant, exclaiming, "I just want to watch it suffer." Upon which another student proclaimed, "What purpose can an ant possibly have?!" I responded by writing on the blackboard the name: Sir David Attenborough. Please go to his website and watch one of his documentaries on the ant! Another student responded: "This is a Spanish class, not a science class!"
My sixth grade teacher left the decision to me to do a second year of sixth grade: back then this was called, "staying back." Yes, repeating a grade was not without it's stigma. But I will say that made all the difference in the world for me, as I was one of the youngest in the classroom and so very shy that I never talked. But, I was always aware of the person next to me and the teacher. Always looking out for them. The repeat year was a turning point for me. I developed a strong desire to learn, and middle school through high school helped me to develop a disciplined approach to studies preparing me for college. I have a deep love and passion for learning and teaching.
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