ROBYN HERNANDEZ NAGREEN
Kindergarten Teacher
hernandezrobyn@aasd.k12.wi.us

I first became involved in the school after I read a newspaper article in June of 1998.  I was looking for something different for my daughter than the traditional public school.  I had many of my own ideas about how a child should be educated and I was thrilled to find a group of people who shared the same basic ideas.  I became involved immediately.  I am very pleased that I am able to be involved with the school as a teacher. I was born in Appleton and I have always lived here, other than attending college in Minneapolis.  I am the youngest of many children.  As a child, I enjoyed sports and was an avid reader, but I never really connected with school. Because of a promise I made to my dad, I did decide to attend college.  It was there that I found joy in education.  My education professors took me under their wings and helped me to develop character and perseverance.  They really stuck with me...especially through my student teaching.  One of my assignments was to teach an inner city sixth grade class.  It was also a language magnet school.  This meant that when I taught, the lesson was translated into three different languages at the same time.  That was quite the experience.

My first teaching assignment was at Appleton Christian School.  I taught 4th-6th grade classes there.  I really enjoyed working there, but after my daughter was born, I made a job change to Little Rock Day Care. As the director, I developed an academic preschool and kindergarten program. Because of a last minute teacher resignation, I started teaching kindergarten until I could find a replacement. I found that I loved it. I am now entering my seventeenth year of teaching. My undergraduate education degree is from North Central University where I also majored in Biblical studies.  Several years ago I earned my Master’s Degree from Cardinal Stritch College. My degree is designed for teachers who want to stay in the classroom and strengthen classroom teaching skills.  I focused on Direct Instruction and my thesis was on Direct Instruction reading success.

I enjoy being a mom.  My daughter, Alicia, is thirteen and entering the Eighth grade at Classical School.  She enjoys playing the violin, competitive swimming, and being with her friends.  My son Emanuel (Manny) has just turned ten and will be entering the fourth grade at Classical.  He likes to play any sport and he also plays the cello.  My husband Paul has an education degree, but works as a kitchen designer at Torborg’s of Appleton. As a family we spend a lot of time together and we enjoy being outside.  We like camping and biking.  Our favorite places to camp are Hartman's Creek, Luna Lake and Three John's Lake, although our need to get away has subsided now that we just moved to the country.  We have recently taken up mountain bike riding and I have found that I really like it.  In the winters we like to snowmobile.  To tell the truth, my family likes to snowmobile, but I like to spend time with them so I go along.  Four years ago both of the children expressed an interest in competitive swimming, so we became involved with a local swim team.  After school hours, most of my time is spent driving them to practices and taking them to meets on the weekend.

I am looking forward to the school year.  I am always excited about teaching children to read and learn math.  The Core Knowledge curriculum is fun to teach and enjoyable for the children to learn.  I enjoy teaching the children through storytelling. I always enjoy visitors, so feel free to schedule a time in the office and come on in.  I love for others to observe what the children are learning and see for themselves that children this young can have a genuine understanding of the core concepts in the curriculum.