Elizabeth S. Care Companion in Durham, NC 27715

I was a teacher for eighteen years, teaching from kindergarten through middle school. During my teaching career, I've also assisted in preschool and worked in high school (as IB DP and Extended Essay Coordinator).

I was certified for grades 1-6 in South Carolina from 2005-2023. I maintained the certification through graduate level online courses in a variety of areas, including literacy, mathematics, special needs, and administration.

Almost every year that I taught, I received training in First Aid and CPR. (The most recent training was in October 2022.)

I have taught in a public school in rural South Carolina; in private international schools in Astana, Kazakhstan; and in a private international school in Tirana, Albania. Overseas, my students were roughly 1/3 American, 1/3 local, and 1/3 everything else. I always had students who were learning English.

I speak conversational French and Russian, and can read/write in French quite well.

I have taught students with a wide range of needs. Overseas, many of my students were not diagnosed, however. I've taught many students with ADD symptoms; one student with dyslexia; and several students with symptoms on the autism spectrum (who were also English-language learners). I've taught one student with Down Syndrome, who also didn't speak English. I've taught one student with anxiety and one with depression. I've taught several students with life-threatening allergies, causing me to become more aware of the attention to detail that goes into providing a safe environment for such children (especially in kindergarten!)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a teacher, and I can't even say which was my favorite grade--kindergartners are rambunctious and loving; third-graders are still loving but also beginning to think more abstractly; middle schoolers are intelligent, inquisitive, and hilarious.

My experience with babies comes from raising my own daughter, who is now 22.