Julia's Home Page

For the past nine years, I have served here as high school Humanities teacher, an advisor, and the unofficial library guru.  For the past couple  years, I've also helped the seniors with college planning. I began teaching in Athens, Ohio 20 years ago when I was a graduate student working toward a master's in literature.  I quickly discovered my love for teaching, and armed with my degree, moved to Boston, where I taught writing courses to women returning to school, ESL to Russian elderly folks, fiction and writing to art students. I also began my life as a mother; my daughter was born in 1993, and my son in 2001.  After my stint as an adjunct in the greater Boston area, I returned to school to become certified to teach high school.  At Tufts University (and Cambridge Rindge and Latin, where I was a student teacher), I became excited to learn that all kinds of creativity were required to reach high school students.  My first full-time position at a traditional public high school helped me hone my patience and my classroom management skills.  When I took a break to take care of my son, I heard a rumor about a school that celebrated its first day in a hay field.  Before I knew it, I was visiting Compass and then moving in my teaching files.  Here, I enjoy teaching literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Othello, but I really love the projects where students can plan an event, sharing all their knowledge--whether a living museum of the 1940's, a film festival, or an exhibit of photography for social change.  I strive to create a lively, productive classroom where students take control of their own learning, continue to find out who they are, while also enjoying literature, history, and the arts.

When I'm not teaching, I can be found hanging with my two children, reading, watching good movies, planting flowers, working on my downward dog or zumba moves, or journaling with as many colorful pens as I can muster.