Once upon a time (and we won’t say how long ago), Mrs. Amanda had a Spanish instructor who boldly proclaimed in her yearbook that she should be a Spanish instructor too. It took over 20 years and a successful career in corporate marketing for her to listen that advice. 

 

A strong desire to cultivatie a love for knowledge drives Mrs. Amanda in her teaching, as she recognizes that an instructor’s enthusiasm for a subject is contagious. She believes each child has unknown strengths waiting to emerge and be discovered. Generally fascinated by learning nearly anything she can cram into her brain, Mrs. Amanda is a self-admitted news junkie and is often caught reading the news in Spanish to gain a different world perspective. In each subject she instructs she brings experience, creativity, and a little bit of silliness to each teaching hour. Mrs. Amanda’s philosophy is that learning is a journey, and ones role in teaching a child doesn’t stop at the end of the school year. 

 

Loves:

• The Oxford comma.

• Odd roadside attractions.

• Communicating on the daily with her friends in Cuba

• The reference section of the bookstore and library. (More knowledge!)

• Writing and journaling

• Algebra (especially harder trinomials!)

• Twitter. (@40mgProseHack)

• Rollerskating

• Kitchen chemistry.

• Children of all ages. (they’re fascinating!)

• The phrase, “What if…?”

• Learning languages!

• Any classroom game that involves using answer buzzers.

• Digging in the dirt and planting things. 

• Gummy bears. 

 

Loaths:

• Improper subject/verb agreement (in any language).

• Germs. 

• The [insert topic here] for dummies book series. 

• Being bored.

• Poor sportsmanship.

• Asparagus and sweet potatoes.

• Nuts in chocolate chip cookies. (It's a texture violation.)

• The phrase, “I can’t!”

 

Favorite Books:

• Keeper of the Moon by Tim McLaurin

• Journey to the Center of The Earth by Jules Verne

• Scars of Truth by Chris Jesse

• The World Almanac & Book of Facts (all years)

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickins

• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

• Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell

• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin

• The Odessa Files by Frederick Forsyth

• 1984 by George Orwell

• The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (Yes, I know it’s a poem!)

• Any poetry anthology by John Keats

• Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M. M. Blume (easily one of the best young adult books I’ve ever read)

• Skippy Jon Jones by Judy Schachner (I love reading this aloud!)

• and many, many, many more! Just ask!