Amanda Kitz

Background

About Amanda Kitz

Amanda is the quintessential jack-of-all-trades. With the willingness to say yes to opportunity, she has found herself in a variety of roles. Each of these roles presented her with a unique set of skills, challenges, and experiences that she now draws on to problem-solve in a variety of situations and made her into the adventurous and tenacious person she is today.She earned a B.S. in Elementary Education and Oregon Preliminary Teacher's License with K-5 multiple subjects and TESOL endorsements from George Fox University in 2017 and an M.Ed. in Curriculum Design and Instruction double-focused in STEAM and Trauma & Resilience through Concordia University, Portland in 2019. Since then, she has committed to extensive reading to keep current on educational research.In the field of education, her expertise is in ESOL strategies, trauma-informed practices, STEAM/integrated-subjects education, outdoor education, arts integration, curriculum design, project-based learning, and social-emotional education. Her professional interests and research are in restorative justice models, trauma research, anti-racist and anti-bias education practices and history such as Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and neurodiversity in the classroom. She strongly believes in the power of good books, STEAM projects, field trips, and outdoor education to light the fire in kids' eyes that makes them love to learn. As an employee, Amanda is resourceful, innovative, organized, creative, and tenacious, seeing each task through to the end. She has worked in a variety of different fields from agriculture to social work and each one lends unique insights and skills to each challenge she faces. She is a strong leader, drawing the strengths out of each team member and cultivating a welcoming environment for her reports. She is a talented researcher and uses her skills in collecting and analyzing data to inform her decision-making. She excels in challenging situations, lending her strength as a creative, critical problem-solver and tenacious individual.In her spare time, Amanda enjoys fishing, foraging, backpacking, reading in coffee shops and bookstores, painting, woodworking, gardening, and watching sci-fi TV shows with her cat. She feels at home in the urban areas of Portland and Seattle as well as the rural backcountry of the North Cascades where she was raised.