Drawn to the Page
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Alexandria, Virginia, United States
About the store
Helping students visualize and communicate ideas on paper was one of the greatest joys of my 30-year teaching career. During those years, I taught grades 5–8 and also served as an instructional technology coach, partnering with teachers to design and deliver technology-rich lessons for students. Along the way, I developed a passion for making learning visual, engaging, and meaningful. I've seen that students learn best when they can see, draw, write, discuss, and construct their own understanding through a hands-on approach. As a result, visual journaling became an important part of our classroom. Over the years, I saved the journals I created alongside my students, and those pages inspire the resources I share with you today. Drawn to the Page grew out of my desire to continue sharing that experience with other teachers and students. The resources offered here are designed to help students think, communicate, and make meaning through visual learning. My hope is to encourage curiosity, creativity, and deeper understanding one page at a time.
About the store
Experience
Helping students visualize and communicate ideas on paper was one of the greatest joys of my 30-year teaching career. During those years, I taught grades 5–8 and also served as an instructional technology coach, partnering with teachers to design and deliver technology-rich lessons for students. Along the way, I developed a passion for making learning visual, engaging, and meaningful. I've seen that students learn best when they can see, draw, write, discuss, and construct their own understanding through a hands-on approach. As a result, visual journaling became an important part of our classroom. Over the years, I saved the journals I created alongside my students, and those pages inspire the resources I share with you today. Drawn to the Page grew out of my desire to continue sharing that experience with other teachers and students. The resources offered here are designed to help students think, communicate, and make meaning through visual learning. My hope is to encourage curiosity, creativity, and deeper understanding one page at a time.
Teaching style
My teaching style has always been rooted in making learning visible. I wanted students to understand the standards we were working toward, so we began by reading and unpacking them together. From there, we built understanding through vocabulary, reading, discussion, and visual journaling. Rather than copying notes, students worked to distill ideas, organize information, and represent their understanding through words, pictures, color, and symbols. I often invited students to contribute ideas, share their journals under the document camera, and collaborate with one another as they worked together to make sense of curriculum content. As students became more confident, I stepped away from the front of the room and into the role of coach, moving around the classroom, asking questions, and giving feedback while students worked together to develop their journal entries. I always stressed that it didn't matter if anyone else could understand their pages; it only mattered if it meant something to them and they could explain it. Those moments of curiosity, conversation, collaboration, and creativity are what I loved and miss most about teaching.
Awards & shining teacher moments
Some of my most meaningful moments as a teacher came years later, when former students would stop by, send messages, or tell me that they still had the journals we created together. Several shared that they continued to use those journals to study for their high school history SOLs. Parents and colleagues often commented on how much students enjoyed the process and how proud they were of the pages they created. There was something about journaling that seemed to remove the usual barriers between teacher and student. We were all creating together, and that shared experience brought joy to the classroom. Another thing that always stood out to me was that middle school students forget stuff. They forget to charge their devices, leave their writing utensils at home, or come to class without other materials, but they almost always remembered their journals. They valued those pages because they belonged to them. Watching reluctant learners gain confidence, seeing students share their thinking with pride, and helping students discover that there wasn't just one right way to communicate understanding are memories I treasure. Those experiences continue to inspire the work I do today. After all these years, that's the greatest reward I could ever ask for.
My own education history
Long before I became a teacher, I was a reader, a writer, and a note-taker. As a child, one of my favorite books was Harriet the Spy because she carried a notebook everywhere and recorded her observations about the world around her. Even in college, I sometimes found myself skipping classes to sit under a tree, read Shakespeare, and doodle in the margins of the text. I earned a bachelor's degree in English and began my career as an editor for an architectural firm. Later, while raising my daughters, I worked as a freelance reviewer of educational software for computer trade journals. Volunteering in my daughters' classrooms opened my eyes to how much help schools needed, and that experience led me back to graduate school to earn a master's degree in education. Over the next 30 years, I taught fifth grade, sixth grade language arts, sixth and seventh grade math, computer technology skills, U.S. history to 1865, and served as an instructional technology coach. Looking back, I realize that the thread connecting all those years was my love of reading, writing, visual note-taking, and helping students make sense of ideas.
Additional biographical information
Outside the classroom, I've always been drawn to books, journals, writing, technology, photography, creative pursuits, and the natural world. Over the years, I've enjoyed traveling solo and with family and friends, camping and hiking around the country, exploring nature with my camera, and finding inspiration in beautiful places and everyday moments. Today, I enjoy watercolor painting, journaling, experimenting with fountain pens and inks, and spending time with family, my grandbabies, and Shen, my canine supervisor and creative director.
About Me
Welcome to Drawn to the Page!
Experience
After many years teaching in middle school, I retired from the classroom—but not from creating resources for teachers. Throughout my career, I saw that students learn best when they literally get their hands on the content, and so visual journaling became one of the most meaningful and enjoyable parts of my classroom.
Teaching Style
Because I still love journaling and miss sharing that experience with students, I've created Journal With Me videos that recreate some of my favorite classroom journal pages. Every student activity in my store can be used alongside its companion directed-drawing video—available here on Teachers Pay Teachers and on my YouTube channel—or as a standalone resource.
Shining Teacher Moment
One of the greatest compliments I ever received came years after a student had left my classroom, when they told me they still had—and still used—the journals we created together to study for their high school exams. Thankfully, I saved the journals my students and I created together, and those pages continue to inspire the resources I design today.
Education
I hold a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in education. During my career, I taught fifth grade, middle school language arts, mathematics, U.S. history to 1865, computer technology, and served as an instructional technology coach.
Additional Biographical Information
When I'm not designing new resources, you'll usually find me journaling, watercolor painting, doodling, experimenting with fountain pens and inks, exploring nature with my camera, or spending time with my family and Shen, my canine supervisor and creative director.
Thanks for stopping by—I hope the resources here help you and your students enjoy learning together, one page at a time.
Throughout my career, I saw that students learn best when they actively process ideas by drawing, writing, and organizing information in their own way. That's why visual journaling became one of the most meaningful and enjoyable parts of my classroom.
Option 2:
Throughout my career, I discovered that students learn best when they create their own visual representations of new learning rather than simply copying notes. Visual journaling became one of the most meaningful and enjoyable parts of my classroom.
Option 3:
Throughout my career, I saw that students learn best when they make sense of ideas for themselves by combining words, pictures, color, and organization. Visual journaling naturally became one of the most meaningful and enjoyable parts of my classroom.
Option 4 (captures the "snapshot" idea):
Throughout my career, I saw that students learn best when they create their own visual representation of new learning. Transforming information into visual, memorable pages combining words, pictures, and color in an organized way helps them retain what they've learned. That's why visual journaling became one of the most meaningful and enjoyable parts of my classroom.