As the daughter of an Army Lieutenant Colonel, my family moved frequently. I lived in 8 places before I turned 12. My love of school was formed from all those moves – experiencing so many different entrance and exits at all times of the year exposed me to a lot of teaching styles and school cultures. Grades 6-8 are especially memorable for me because our last family move came mid-way through my 6th grade year.
I went to SUNY Geneseo for undergrad (math and art) and attended UMass Amherst for graduate school for my MEd. My first teaching job was at Framingham High School teaching Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry. The school was very large with a math department of 22. We even had our own lunch room! I got married while I was teaching there and my husband and I decided to move to Fairport, NY to be closer to family. My next job was in Pittsford Middle School. At the time it was the only middle school for the district, with about 1000 students. I taught 7th and 8th grade math there. While in the Rochester area, we had our daughter. When she was almost 2 we decided to move to Trumansburg, to be even closer to family. We’ve lived here ever since – over 17 years now!
I took a long break from teaching when my kids were young. During that time I started my business, Emoticakes and I spent time first as a parent volunteer and later I took a part time job teaching pre-school at TCNS. As my kids grew I was part of the PTO for their schools. You may see me out in the community running after school. I blog about my running and other things semi-regularly on Skirtrunner.
This year is my 6th year back in secondary education. I had a soft re-entry as a long-term sub for grade 8 in 2015-2016 and again in 2017-2018 in the same capacity for grade 7. I am grateful for those opportunities; to my colleagues for their amazing support and to my own children for helping me get up to speed in the classroom. I don’t know how I would have fared if it weren’t for my amazingly supportive husband.
Ms. Dawson's Math 