Welcome to my Digication Portfolio!  I hope that you will enjoy learning about my educational experiences, my teaching experiences, and also a little about me as a person. 

 

A long journey has led me to Brown University to study teaching!  I was born in raised in Columbus, Ohio as the baby of a family of seven children.  My parents, James and Sylvia Siemer, (pictured here) are very amazing people devoted to their family, their faith, and their service to the poor.  If it were not for them, I would have no work ethic, no backbone, and no inspiration.  I feel I owe them everything.  My family is very large—I have six amazing siblings who are married to six wonderful people, twenty hilarious nieces and nephews, and countless cousins and aunts and uncles. If only everyone could be so blessed with the gift of a large family!

 

A scholarship led me to study at Oberlin College, where I earned my Bachelor’s degree in English.  I was able to study abroad during my junior year in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.  I received the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship and studied Central American Poetry and Literature with a professor from the Hispanic Studies Department.  My educational experiences abroad and in Oberlin, Ohio are absolutely priceless.  I developed an intense love for education and social justice at Oberlin; I hope the passions will continue throughout my life. 

 

Studying teaching at Brown University has also been such an amazing gift.  I am fortunate enough to work with amazing professors and mentors who believe in teaching in a way that I hope I will always believe in it.  They are professionals who have had much experience in the classroom and who are dedicated to helping young teachers start their careers. 

 

I hope that you will enjoy reading about my experiences and also learning about the teacher I am and the teacher I will always be striving to become.