Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will lag behind this upcoming year. As a current 6th grade ELA teacher at a K-8 inner city school in Connecticut, I predict that grade level vocabulary will be very challenging for my incoming students. Hence, I set out to create a CLI that would pull from a Word API and streamline the process of defining and analyzing new vocabulary. My final goal being to create a quick way to access the definitions, pronunciation, syllables, and frequency of usage for English words.
As a relentless child advocate and education leader, my work thus far has been fueled by a deep and personal passion to level the playing field for low income and at-risk youth and families. My advocacy comes from a place of personal experience. As a minority who grew up in and aged out of the foster care system, I have a firsthand understanding of the importance of creating equitable learning environments, safeguarding childhood experiences, and promoting family resilience in the community. Ten years ago, in 2010, I was away at college finishing my undergraduate degree in psychology and set to age out of foster care upon graduation. I had the brains and brawn to become a psychologist, but after hitting many social and systematic barriers while attaining my master’s degree, I chose to move back home to Connecticut and pivot into teaching.