Hello, my name is Sandra, and it is very nice to meet you! I am a wife; a mother; an avid researcher of early childhood education and development; a passionate educator; a lover of love and happy things and the founder of Happiness in Education.
During my studies to earn a Bachelor’s of the Arts in Psychology and Italian at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, I focused my field training on learning and teaching using Applied Behavior Analysis. With this passion for educating, I then earned a Masters Degree and certification in Early Childhood Education and Special Education from Columbia University in 2014. I spent the next four years, first, teaching preschool in Brooklyn, New York and, later, working as a Special Education Service Provider around the boroughs of New York City.
As a preschool teacher, I taught students a high quality equal and equitable education; designed a curriculum that was culturally relevant; valued teaching a critical pedagogy; created individualized education plans and behavioral intervention plans; led inquiry based lessons; created differentiated lesson plans; taught using differentiated instruction; and designed subsequent lessons that were based on data from assessments and notes from observations. As a Special Education Service Provider, I created individualized academic and behavioral programs and worked with students one on one to foster their learning experiences in a home or inclusive classroom setting.
In 2018, my family moved to Wisconsin, where I continued my own lifelong journey as a perpetual student, earning certifications in Instructional Design, Literacy and Reading Teaching Specialization, Math Education, and Science Education while homeschooling my very own baby angels. I believe that a teachers own learning is never done, whose own love for learning and teaching is at the core of effective instruction, along with qualities such as passion and empathy. I am currently studying to earn a second Masters degree in Library and Information Studies with an emphasis on Youth Studies, School Media Certification and Literacy from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I currently have two active teaching licenses in Wisconsin for early childhood education and special education. I have a profound passion for teaching early childhood education and I am so excited to create and provide programs and resources that offer a high quality education, igniting a happiness in education that should be at the forefront of any educational program. I am on a journey to empower others to stay informed, advocate for social change, and share and create resources that will promote high quality equitable and equal education.
Welcome to Happiness in Education 🙂 I am so happy you are here 🙂