I grew up in a small town in Iowa (Greenfield) and attended Iowa State University, where I studied English, German, and music.  I taught English as a second language to German fifth and seventh graders at the Gymnasium Wesermünde school in Bremerhaven, Germany.  When I came back to the United States, I taught in a Montessori school, and later at Western Iowa Tech Community College, at Lawton-Bronson High School, and at Drake University. I started teaching at Waukee Middle School in Waukee in 1993 and began the German program at the high school the following year. In 1994, I received a Master of Education degree in Effective Teaching from Drake University, and in 2002 I became a National Board Certified Teacher of World Languages Other than English.  My immediate family includes my husband, who is a bank officer, my three children (who are all out of high school), and a Dachshund dog named Sophie Charlotte von Preußen.  Something special about me is that I was in the movie Cold Turkey which was filmed in my hometown.  I like to read mystery books and anything by British author, Jane Austen, play piano, work with old-fashioned rose varieties in my garden, travel, and speak other languages.