Pre-School and Kindergarten | Faculty

Rebekah

Substitute

I started at Akiba as a substitute teacher in June of 2004 and then taught during the Akiba 2005 Summer Camp. Having spent lots of time in every classroom as a substitute, I have learned so much from all of our teachers and incorporate what I've learned into my interactions in the classroom. I love to connect with each individual child and spend lots of time with them on the floor reading, talking, building, and playing games.

I am a native of Anaheim, California and lived in Texas, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Wisconsin growing up. I earned associate degrees in marketing and business management and just as I set off to establish my career, my husband's more established career took off-and so did we! We moved from Wausau, Wisconsin to Cincinnati, Ohio, Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama where I briefly held jobs in marketing.

Once in Birmingham, I decided to go back to college to earn my Bachelors Degree and attended UAB for one semester as an early childhood education major until my husband landed a job back in his hometown of Chicago. As I began searching for colleges with early childhood education programs, I discovered a fiction writing program at Columbia College and had to run with my passion. Now I have the best of both worlds, I get to work with children and write!

In spring of 2005 I completed my first novel, and have since, collected a binder full of rejection letters-I am thinking I will have better luck with my second or third novel someday. I have also written a children's story.

In addition to teaching and writing, I am also a volunteer for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust where I have assisted with tours, marketing, volunteer training, and presented Froebel workshop classes to fourth graders in the Oak Park school district-Friedrich Froebel is the inventor of Froebel Blocks, and most interestingly, Friedrich Froebel was also the inventor of kindergarten.

Modified: Last Modified:August 25, 2007. 16:38:50 pm