Marnie's Biography
My name is Marnie Schwartz. I came to education later in life than many. I had different jobs before teaching - counselor, bookkeeper, paraprofessional social worker, and masseuse. The most influential job, in terms of teaching, was my work as a social worker. After years of indirect services, I realized that I wanted to be involved in direct services and education seemed the best route to take. So, I started a post-MA course of study in early childhood education. Now I have 20 years of classroom experience in both the private and public sectors with learners from preschool through college level.
My first exposure to working with computers came from my social work position. I had to dictate quarterly reports using a type of word processing equipment I still don’t fully understand. Later I had the opportunity to learn more and more until eventually I became hooked on computers.
My first exposure to working with English Language Learners (ELL’s) came about 17 years ago. After teaching them for about 5 years I decided that working with ELL’s was where I wanted to stay and went back to school (again) for a TESOL certificate (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and then an MA in TESOL. Working with ELL’s makes me feel closer to my immigrant grandparents who never really learned English and my father who only learned English when he entered public school.