Barbara Andrews
I am a native Texan, born and raised in the beautiful city of San Antonio. My mother was a teacher and my father was a bank executive. They both valued education. So obviously my pursuit of the profession was encouraged. Thankfully, I had the same goal in mind. From an early age, I had been fascinated by languages, and I spent a year of college attending the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, then attending Trinity University in San Antonio to pursue a degree in Spanish, as well as a degree in Education. I have spent 27 years as a bilingual classroom teacher, an ESL teacher, a Reading Recovery (R) and Descubriendo la Lectura teacher (Reading Recovery (R) in Spanish), and as a district instructional facilitator. After receiving a master’s degrees in education and in reading, I spent a year in Australia as an exchange teacher–a fascinating and enlightening experience–forging many wonderful friendships and allowing continuing contact with many educators there. I recently had the honor of attending the wedding of one of my Australian students from 15 years ago. Now THAT’S follow-up!
I retired from my first career and was fortunate to become a consultant with Benchmark Education Company, working with administrators, teachers, and students, as well as contributing to the development of new instructional programs. I now spend the majority of the school year providing professional training and helping schools and districts implement educational plans; in other words, helping schools be schools, and teaching teachers to teach. The challenges are many–testing, changing populations, and the influx of students with a variety of languages and cultures, to name just a few.
Benchmark Education Company is a forward-thinking company, making it possible for me, as a consultant, to provide customized professional development to meet the varying needs of schools and school districts, not just cookie-cutter training sessions. I spend MANY nights on the computer and the telephone in hotel rooms ALL over the country. I have traversed blizzards, hurricanes, and other low-key disasters to get to training sites, even experiencing the collapse of a school roof from the snow in New England during the winter of 2011! It is, indeed, my passion to give children the best possible chance to succeed by becoming articulate, literate adults. The educational field will always change, and here at Benchmark Education, I’m glad to help teachers adapt. This job can keep me from another love of mine, reading, but it does provide opportunities for travel and for meeting new and wonderful people, which I think gives me as much inspiration as any book can.
I have 3 very brilliant and talented sons who live near me in the Dallas area. In addition, I have 3 playful cats and an adorable dog–all acquired accidentally but much loved!