My story...

Natalie began her teaching career in Hawaii working as a special educator in a middle school. She had an amazing teaching abroad experience in Brisbane, Australia and completed her Masters degree while living there. It was a completely different scene from her hometown in central Indiana!

After moving back to Indiana, she was able to stay home with her daughter, Madelyn for a while. When Madelyn was almost two, Natalie had the awesome experience of working with two-year-old (yikes!) in a preschool, teaching gymnastics and dance, and just enjoying being a mom.

Natalie eventually went back teaching in a co-teaching position as the special educator. This experience helped her grow immensely and continues to be model she feels strongly about. During that same time, Madelyn thrived in a nearby Montessori school. Natalie became increasingly interested in the Montessori philosophy. She decided it was now or never and pursued learning the method. Natalie became certified by the American Montessori Society in lower and upper elementary (grades 1-6) and joined the upper elementary team where she taught for six years.

 

Natalie has a B.S. in Special Education and M.A. in Applied Linguistics. She is licensed to teach K-6 general and special education and English as a New Language. She was a teacher leader in her school district and completed a teaching policy fellowship. Natalie loves to travel and has enjoyed learning about inquiry-based learning during field studies in Borneo and Belize. She loves all things reading, writing, and science, and finds great joy in spending time with her students!

Natalie is an amazing teacher. She is passionate, creative and always puts kids first. My son loved all of the science experiments and literature circles that went on his 4th/5th grade classroom last year, and he was incredibly challenged. He was also absolutely obsessed with the class business "The Green Thumb" and I've never seen a kid more enthusiastic about selling "Fields of Lavender" air freshener than him. He learned about marketing, product design and had to use fairly complex math to figure out the unit cost of his product. I couldn't recommend Natalie enough. She's an outstanding educator!