After receiving my B.S. Degree in Elementary Education
from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN, I was
a classroom teacher in Grades 4 and 5 in two Catholic
grade schools in Central Minnesota. I have been a teacher
educator at Mankato State University (Mankato, MN),
the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and most recently
at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. My teaching
focuses on helping undergraduate and graduate students
apply their knowledge of literacy education in their
work with children through tutoring and classroom experiences.
While we can never undervalue the importance of teachers’
knowledge and skill, I believe that nurturing my students
to become lifelong learners is the most important job
I have. A good friend once said, “It’s what
you learn after you know it all that really counts.”
My scholarship has included self-studies of my own
teaching as a teacher educator and also an examination
of how portfolios facilitate reflection in preservice
and inservice teachers. I have presented at numerous
international, national, regional, and local conferences,
and published in both state and national journals. In
2004 I was elected as vice president of the Wisconsin
State Reading Association, an organization with 2500
members. I also serve as a member of the WSRA No Child
Left Behind Task Force and am the 2007 WSRA Convention
Chair. For more information on WSRA, see www.wsra.org.
