Gail has a master’s degree in education from the University of North Dakota, along with more than 60 additional hours of course work beyond that degree. She also has 32 years of teaching experience that ranges from teaching kindergarten to eighth grade, in both special education and elementary education.

 

She is committed to teaching children through hands-on experience. Her passion for this style of learning arose during her early years of teaching special education. She later discovered that, in addition to helping children with special needs, hands-on and experiential education is an approach from which all children can benefit. Throughout her teaching career, she has worked in private, alternative and traditional schools, and—regardless of the type of institution—children, parents and administrators alike have responded positively to such approaches to teaching and its value in creating happy, engaged, and productive students.

 

“Each day and each child brings new challenges to the process of making learning real and meaningful,” she notes. “This is what makes teaching new and alive.”

 

She enjoys engaging in conversations and explorations with others in a format similar to that used in a math laboratory or a literacy laboratory where individuals share, experiment and explore with materials and ideas related to teaching children. In this way she has provided support and shared vital information with other Foothills teachers.

 

Gail strives to create a “child-centered environment” where the students in the classroom can teach her who they are and what they need. In this way both teacher and students can “bring the environment alive with the specific interest and needs of our class.”