Dawn Harshbarger is passionate about reading. Anything from the back of cereal boxes to Faulkner. There are ideas contained in each sentence. There is something new in every idea thoughtfully expressed. The opportunity to express their own ideas is the challenge and gift Mrs. Harshbarger offers to all her students.
Mrs. Harshbarger became a teacher because only a job with real meaning would satisfy her. When a student becomes excited about reading, something of value has happened. When a student confidently expresses an independently conceived idea, something of value has been added to the world. Throughout her teaching career, Mrs. Harshbarger’s approach has been to teach the lesson, and encourage students to relate that lesson to the world around them.
Mrs. Harshbarger joined the Florida Virtual School faculty in order to work more closely with her students. She believes that the online learning environment allows additional opportunities to individualize instruction to the needs of individual students. She is also glad that FLVS allows her additional opportunities to care for the needs of her two small children.
Prior to joining FLVS, Mrs. Harshbarger co-taught seventh grade Language Arts in Orange County, Florida. She also served as an AmeriCorps volunteer. In that role, she worked in literacy based outreach programs, tutoring at risk children, and reading to the elderly residents of nursing homes, among other responsibilities. Mrs. Harshbarger is also a Thinking Maps trainer, certified to train teachers in methods for helping students describe, classify and sequence what they are studying.
Mrs. Harshbarger earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Central Florida.
