Professional Mini-Biography

I am a writing instructor at College of the Redwoods, a community college in Northern California. I completed my Masters in Teaching Writing at Humboldt State University in 2004 following ten years of teaching English as a Second Language in the United States and abroad. I am originally from England and my teaching experiences have taken me to Russia, South Korea, and Cambodia. I also hold a Bachelor's degree in Russian from the University of Nottingham, England.

Since 2004 I have worked online as a constructed response professional for Educational Testing Service (ETS). I score the written section for the Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Graduate Records Exam (GRE) and the California State University Early Assessment Program.

My new journey is taking me into the world of E-learning as I study for a graduate certificate in E-learning and Online Teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. As an online instructor I hope to blend much of my teaching practices in composition with best practices from the field of e-learning. My hope is to cultivate optimal opportunities for communication, collaboration and critical thinking, and teach students literacy skills most relevant to the 21st century.