NAME:
Caroline Cathey Gaea
SCHOOL:
Westlake Charter School
CLASS:
5th Grade Reading, Language Arts, History and Culture
CELL NUMBER:
214-205-8155
Howdy! In case you have not heard I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and
very proud of that fact! I try to get home as often as I can, which never
seems to be often enough. I am married to my wonderful husband, Sonny, have
an amazing son, Elijah. Oh...and two really bad, but wonderful, dogs!
After graduating from high school in Dallas, Texas I went to college in
Shreveport, Louisiana. I graduated from Centenary College in 1997 with a BA in
Liberal Arts (Art, Education and Exercise Science). I had no idea what I
wanted to do with my life, so I moved with some college friends to Maracaibo,
Venezuela. While in Venezuela I taught English for Berlitz, and later taught
special education at Escuela Bella Vista, a K-12 international school. I was
fortunate enough to learn Spanish during my adventure abroad and upon
returning to Texas I earned my Bilingual Teacher Credential. I taught
bilingual 4th grade for five years then looped to 5th grade for another 2
years at John R. Good Elementary in Irving, Texas.
After deciding that I wanted a little more out of teaching I went to graduate
school and earned a Masters in Education from Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, Texas. I continued working at John R. Good and become the Title I
Bilingual Support Specialist for K-5. It was my job to pull the students that
were not quite getting what they needed to be successful out of the regular
school day. While working as the Title I Support Specialist I ran our 21st
Century Grant that serviced over 400 students. I ran the program on our
campus for a little over two years. Our school had over 800 students with 7
kindergarten classes alone! It was awesomely crazy! After 9 wonderful years I
was sad to leave my beloved school, but I had bigger and better things waiting
in California.
I moved to California in January of 2008 and have been here ever since.
Eventually I want to move back to Texas, but right now just want to get my son
through high school! I worked at St. Hope Elementary, aka PS7, for two years
as a 5th grade teacher before coming to WCS. Westlake Charter School has
become a wonderful surrogate family for me and I truly enjoy coming to work
everyday. I was lucky enough to get hired to create and implement the BASE
Program, and then move back to the wonderful world of the classroom. This will
be my 3rd year as a 5th grade teacher at WCS. I am a pretty open book so if
you have any questions….do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you for entrusting me with your child’s education. I know it will be an
awesome year!
Sincerely,
Caroline Cathey Gaea