Who is the Author of Geoteach.com?

My name is Lorrie and I am the owner of the Geoteach, Geolor and Geolor's Exclusive Graphic Designs domains.
Geoteach.com was originally started as a source of extra credit for my own Long Island, New York, Earth Science students. After I retired from teaching, I decided not only to maintain the site I had posted for many years, but also to enhance it by adding lessons and worksheets "a la my style of teaching". I believe in graphics, diagrams and illustrations and I am convinced that people gravitate more to text when it is embellished with visual images. The lessons and worksheets I design reflect this personal belief.
Geoteach.com also links to excellent outside sources of information on the Internet, both as part of many assignments and as additional Earth Science resource sites.
Geoteach.com is a personal website and it is not funded in any way. It is simply a "labor of love" and an outward reflection of my inner commitment to science.

My teaching career actually began with high school Spanish. When I was a high school senior, a guidance counselor advised me to pursue foreign languages since I had quite an ability in that area. I was young, naive and trusting of authority and so I did not question his advice, though I should have, because a love of science had been in me since childhood. Years of college and postgraduate studies in foreign languages led me to my my first teaching position. I did, however, minor in Biology with the thought of pre-med in the back of my mind. Just in case!

Absent from teaching for 13 years, I raised 3 children then decided to teach once again. At that time, teaching jobs were in short supply and I returned to the work force as an elementary (4th grade) teacher. For 4 years I taught by day and pursued a second masters degree by night. Up to my ears with studying and term papers, I swore never to go back to classes again and to instead begin enjoying any free time left after a long work day.
However, the thought came to me, "Remember how you loved science and always wanted to teach science? Well, as soon as my Masters degree was handed to me I enrolled in science courses in order to attain certification to teach in the area I had always loved and had always wanted to be involved in. And so began another several years of teaching by day and studying by night.

I started with graduate Biology courses. Since I had taken many Bio courses as an undergraduate, it would not be long before I would be New York State certified to teach Bio.
Quite by accident I decided to take an elective summer course in Environmental Geology. I had never studied Earth Science or Geology before in my life. I loved it and I was hooked! From that point on I studied only Geology until I could attain Earth Science certification.
Despite being a very busy, working "older" student, I achieved very high grades in all my courses.
By the time I was finished with all my studies I had become certified by New York State in 5 teaching areas: Spanish, Earth Science, Biology, General Science and N-6.
The remainder of my public school teaching career was spent instructing high school Regents Earth Science to grades 9-12 in a Long Island, New York school district. I retired from NYS public school teaching in 2004 and relocated to Colorado.

Learning about the Earth enhanced my vacations and my understanding of what I saw around me everyday. I took this enthusiasm into the classroom with me and tried my best to impart knowledge and appreciation of our planet to the students entrusted to me each term. I explained difficult concepts in simple terms, used models and illustrations profusely and brought the Earth into the classroom by showing slides taken at National Parks and local areas of interest.

I was most fortunate to have been given the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Geology at Hofstra University. So, when I had finished being a Hofstra student, I returned as an instructor from 1992-1997. How exciting it was to be on the other side of the desk!
I will say that teaching at the university level was the best experience I ever had and I truly loved it. It was not easy teaching 2 jobs and unfortunately, when my parents fell ill and into my care, I had to give up the position I loved the most. Not too many days go by that I do not think about my time spent as an assistant professor at Hofstra.

I am presently teaching Physical Geology for the Colorado Community Colleges Online program. Combining my love for Geology with my web authoring skills is enjoyable and rewarding.

In all, I have taught every age imaginable, from Nursery School to adults older than myself. And, many years were spent working hard both day and night, taking a decade worth of postgraduate classes while my personal life was put on hold in order to achieve my final goal of becoming a science instructor.

Geoteach.com gives me the opportunity to teach and remain immersed in the subject area, even if it is not with my own students but rather with students I have not had the pleasure to know.
When I write a lesson or assignment and when you use my work, it is like I am teaching Earth Science and that is a great feeling!

My services are available to educational institutions and also to individuals in need of custom, science-related graphic images and/or the authoring of Earth Science/Geology lessons, labs and assignments. Contact Geoteach.com

Thank you for visiting Geoteach and, if you use any of my lessons and/or worksheets, please let me know. Teachers and students alike, I would love to hear from you.
If you have a request for a topic you would like to see added to the list, just email me.
Enjoy! Hope to hear from some of you.