Master Teacher Alexandra “Allie” Golon is an internationally recognized expert on learning styles of the gifted, particularly visual-spatial learners, and has written several books, chapters and articles for parents, teachers, and students on this topic (www.Visual-Learners.com). She has been invited to keynote and present at numerous state, national, and international conferences, and has instructed teachers all over the world on how to effectively educate gifted visual-spatial children. Born and raised in Southern California, Allie has a B.S. in Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. A former homeschooling parent and previous G/T teacher, this is Allie’s first year at RMS. Allie lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and two sons, one an RMS student, the other an RMS alum now in high school.

Allie’s return as a classroom teacher is marked with great enthusiasm. She says of her teaching philosophy: Learning can and should be a lifelong endeavor. If nothing else, students in my class will understand, from my own example, that ongoing, meaningful education, enriches one’s life and love of life. I strongly adhere to Yeats’ view that, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Through careful and deliberate differentiation, each student is honored for the gifts and strengths he or she brings to the classroom while any weaknesses are shored up through active, hands-on engagement that serves to spark that fire of curiosity found in every child. Experiential exercises, appropriate level materials, incorporating strategies that utilize the child’s intellect and preferred learning style, and including just the right amount of visual stimulation – all are techniques that call upon the remarkable abilities of gifted children and will be a part of the class I help nurture.

Children who are respected, respect others; children who are valued, value. The classroom and all its participants are a community and family onto themselves bound not by biological ties, but by shared goals and accomplishments. I eagerly look forward to participating as a fellow learner within this unique community.