Tell us why you became a teacher

It seemed like the right thing to do to make a difference. I am an early childhood educator because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of young children to help them become better citizens. It just seemed the best way to impact lives was while they were young and forming their own thoughts and ideas about our world.i wanted to create children who could self-regulate and govern themselves and the best way to do that was to begin learning these principles at a young age.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I use Conscious Discipline in my classroom and have for nearly 20 years now. It is an adult first children second curriculum that teaches emotional self-regulation to even very small children. I knew it was effective when I watched with my own eyes a 3-year-old boy peer counsel another 3-year-old girl out of a temper tantrum. He helped her by using the same words and phrases I used often with him. This proved to me the powerful effectiveness of this amazing curriculum! I was sold!!

What would you do with the $25,000?

Honestly, I would regain my status of being debt free. I have lived 17 years completely debt free, but I messed up on my taxes and now I owe over $10,000 to the IRS. I know I can make a payment plan, but I believe in living debt free and want to be debt free again.