Meet Mrs. Cottrell

Personal Information:

I was raised in Bloomington in a large family.  I have two older sisters, two younger sisters, and one younger brother.  All of my sisters are married and have children, and I am blessed to have five nieces and  three nephews to spoil!    I married my husband in Hawaii in 2006.  We don't have any children, but we do have two boxers.  Beau is 3 and Ellie is 2.     

Education:

I attended Stevenson & Oakland Elementary, BJHS, and graduated from BHS.  After high school, I completed my Associates in Science from Heartland Community College and then I graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelors in Elementary Education.  I continue to take district classes as well as graduate classes from the American College of Education.

I have been teaching in District 87 at Stevenson Elementary since 2005.  I taught fourth grade for one year and I have been teaching third grade ever since.  I feel blessed to be working in a great district and doing a job that I love.

I am passionate about teaching and using technology to engage students.  I am on the technology committee at Stevenson and I believe teaching others what you know is the best way to learn something.  I use my SMART board for almost everything I teach, and I recently began using the CPS clicker system and I know this will change the way I teach and the way students learn.  I strongly believe that sharing is caring, and this motto was shared with me by Amy Oberts, so thanks Amy!  I have taught various technology topics to teachers on in-service days, and I even co-taught FTC Publishing during the Mini-Feast, and I am excited to be training IlliniData at the Teacher Feast during the summer.