About+Your+Teacher

Milner and Tenore (as well as others) focus a lot on the importance of the students being able to get to know the teacher on a more personal level so that the students feel more comfortable doing the same. As teachers, we want to be viewed as human beings that make mistakes and learn things just like everyone else. Some students truly are disconnected with the idea that their teacher is a person outside of school and we have experiences that can relate to their own and help them when they need it. This is one way of starting that dialogue and providing some basis information to students and parents about myself. My story, like all of our stories, starts before I was born… My maternal grandfather, Frank Zlobec, is a second generation immigrant from Yugoslavia. His family had very little money when he was growing up and when he was 17 he joined the military as a way to escape poverty. Having realized his dream of escaping poverty, he retired from the Army 29 years later as a Command Sergeant Major. My maternal grandmother and my father’s side of the family were tobacco farmers in Adair County. Living on a farm, all family members were expected to be active participants in doing the work on the farm. While growing tobacco put food on the table, it left very little money for extras especially during such periods as the Great Depression when tobacco prices plummeted throughout the country. My father got his first job when he was 12 years old, working on a nearby farm to bring in extra income for the family. Both sides of my family know poverty. Both side of my family have lived in poverty but because of their strong work ethics and determination, neither side of my family lives in poverty today.

I was born and raise in Kentucky. When I was growing up, I had a stay at home dad and a mom who worked a lot. I also have a little sister named Angela who is in college at U of L. Being around my dad so much, I wasn't really interested in the things the other little girls my age were interested in. I didn't like dolls or wearing dresses or playing house. I liked playing sports, climbing trees, and getting muddy. I played softball from the time I was in second grade until I graduated high school and I dabbled in other sports such as basketball and soccer. I had a hard time making friends at school sometimes when I was younger because I was so shy and I wasn't into the the things other girls my age were. Outside of school, I had two best friends, sisters, one named Crystal, the other named Tracy. They are still my two closest friends today. When I got into middle school, I came out of my shell a lot, gained more confidence and made more friends.

When I went to high school, I got my first job part time job when I was 16 years old at Burger King. In 2006, at the age of 18, I graduated from Male High School. The summer after high school, I got my first full time job and I continued to work full time throughout college. That fall I started as a freshman at the University of Louisville. The part that I loved the most about U of L was meeting and kinds of new and interesting people from all over the world. See, by the time I started high school, I had been in school with some of the same kids for the last 13 years! At U of L I was able to form friendships with new people and experience new cultures. My classes and experiences at U of L taught me the importance of diversity and culture. I worked full time while I was in college in order to pay my bills and to pay for school. In December of 2010, I graduated from U of L with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. I went back the next spring and started on my Master of Arts to teach elementary school and graduated in August of 2012.

In addition to teaching, I also like to read (I have set a goal for myself to read 40 new books this year), paint, travel, watch baseball (go Red Sox!) play with my dog, Bandit, and hang out with my friends. If you ask my friends about me, they will tell you that I have a quote for everything, but you'll learn that soon enough. I am looking forward to an exciting year and to getting to know each and every one of you in our classroom community.

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