Andrea Dales

"I absolutely love teaching high school. I started out in my district 16 years ago teaching middle school (6-7-8) English classes. I have taught middle school social studies, both gifted and English as a second language classes at both the middle and high school levels. I enjoy getting to know my students and their families. It brings me great joy to hear about their lives once they leave me. Once my kid, always my kid. 

I earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in sociology from Arizona State University. I went on to earn my teaching degree through their post baccalaureate program, and then my master’s degree in administration as well. I am currently working on my National Board Teaching Certification; I regularly score for Advanced Placement, SAT, and other state writing tests; and I am an active participant in many committees on standards and assessment through the Arizona Department of Education.

I am passionate about native American rights and have a zero policy for intolerance and bullying. My goal is for my students to feel safe in my room and for them to know that it is okay to have and voice their own opinions. When they leave my classroom, I want them to be confident in their own abilities and tolerant of others’ views. I want them to think and act rather than merely accept their world as it and watch it pass them by.

I am happily married to a man who accepts my dedication to my profession and my students. We have two beautiful boys who are growing up aware of the world around them and who are not afraid to have opinions and speak out about their beliefs and thoughts.

I look forward to enhancing our new curriculum with the Rock Your World curriculum in my freshman honors English classes. Our new curriculum is divided into themes and I cannot wait to work elements of Rock Your World into both the Survival and Literature of Civil Rights units. My hope is that exposure to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will open my students’ eyes to the world around them—both internationally and nationally. I worry that many of my students are too sheltered—to the extent that they do not realize that not everyone in the world has the same basic amenities to which they are accustomed. I believe the exposure to the world and their research will open their eyes and lead to wonderful outcomes in my classroom and beyond."