One kind of job I am looking for: Corporate Training/ Instructional Designer

Christie Veitch

Boulder, CO 
ChristieAVeitch@gmail.com

 

q  Objective: To design and deliver trainings for an organization that values creating exciting and beneficial professional development opportunities and seeks to positively impact its employees, clients, and community.

q  Skills

o    Developing and delivering individualized trainings, presentations, evaluation and communication tools

o    Teaching/Mentoring in both group and individualized settings, students from ages three - adult

o    Educational and Business consulting

o    Understanding of cognitive and psychological learning models for children and adults

o    Project management including thorough attention to details and goals, strong written and verbal communication, scheduling, and time management

o    Proficient in Microsoft Office suite, as well as many Adobe and Apple software products           

q  Education
2005 M.S. Rutgers University, Cognitive Psychology
      Thesis: Adult processing of Get and Be in active and passive sentences
2004 M.A., Rutgers University, Linguistics
1999 B.A. Hampshire College

            Self designed concentration, “ Simplicity and structure: The study of Mathematics and Linguistics”

q  Professional, Consulting and Business Experience
Kumon North America: Teaneck and Lawrenceville, NJ, and Boulder, CO.  2006 – 2011
Franchise Development Manager, Boulder, CO Fall 2010 - 2011 As the business and franchise consultant I administered all training in this region for Instructors/Franchisees and franchisee trainees, including: professional development presentations and hands-on trainings, individualized development plans, and assistance in all aspects of opening and growing their business including evaluation of their businesses, development and critique of business plans, site searches, and marketing plans. As a satellite office in Colorado, I operated this region, office, and managed all projects solo in addition to developing and providing all group and individual trainings.

Educational Field Consultant, 2006 – 2010. First in the NJ/PA field office and then running a remote region in Colorado, I operated as an educational consultant for Instructors/Franchisees in the Kumon method offering group and personalized professional development plans, presentations and tools, educational support to them in developing their lesson plans and student results, setting and achieving goals, and certification in the Kumon Method. This role required the delivery of professional development opportunities and tools, as well as assessment of needs and analysis of results and future needs. (Promoted to Franchise Development Manager)

Hampshire College Admissions Counselor, Amherst, MA. September 1999-August 2000. Reading, evaluating student applications, interviewing students, hosting and performing as the main speaker at information sessions to interested students and their families, college fairs and high school visits, planning and implementing Admissions events bringing together interested applicants, current students, and Hampshire college staff and faculty.

q  Instructional, Teaching and Mentoring Experience

Greenhouse Scholars Mentor (Volunteer), September 2008-present. Mentoring high-risk college students receiving scholarship and other support from Greenhouse Scholars. Volunteering on several advisory boards and leading application/interview committees.

Instructor, Psychology Department, Rutgers University, 2001-2006. Sole instructor for Psychology of Language, an upper level Cognition and Psychology course and sole instructor for three different Psychology laboratory courses - hands-on, small group-setting lab course for Psychology undergraduates. Tasks included creating and delivering course content, grading, and meeting with students regarding individual assignments and course related projects.

Rutgers University Writing Program Tutor, 2004-2006. Working with students in required reading comprehension and expository writing courses to define and organize topics, questions, and supporting points for their compositions, setting weekly goals with students, reporting on student progress, and employing the "minimalist tutoring" protocol so that students received guidance without dependence on tutoring.

References: Available upon request

2011 in review

I filed for unemployment yesterday which felt a little like cutting a pound of flesh out of myself, but needed to be done. It is still less than half of what I need to survive, and it is still impossible for me to believe I am in this situation. It is still necessary for me to find part-time work right away (which will, of course, eliminate everything I'm getting from unemployment). And it is still dire for me to find full-time work. It is still frightening as hell to think about becoming a person who runs around trying to make a certain amount of money every week by stitching together part time gigs, and it is still worrisome that if I do become that person, I might never have the time to find the full time work that makes me feel happy and rewarded.

And so it is also true that I had a mini-panic attack last night. Suddenly, while sitting in the living room surrounded by fabulous people, I couldn't maintain "being ok." I decided to not NOT be ok in a way that made other people deal with it so I escaped upstairs for 10 minutes and sat in the dark. I was trying to breathe and slow everything down, but the opposite happened and everything started to speed up and feel scarier and huger. Luckily one of my two best friends found me and stopped the madness.

But, despite all of this, I am trying to not let these hard moments, difficult decisions, disappointments and anxieties define what I did accomplish this year. I did a lot of good stuff this year. I gave a lot, I discovered a lot, I worked on important things, and I have a lot to be proud of. It often takes me some time after the new year to carefully consider and design my New Year's resolutions. I always want my goals to be achievable, and to have, if not a deadline, a definite way of telling if they have been met. So, don't expect to see that post for at least a week. In the meantime, here is a recounting of 2011.

• I got out of my knee braces after a year (and then rejoiced because I could wear normal clothes again!)

• I was able to bring the level of my work outs higher than where it left off when my knees were injured and lift some serious weights
  
• I started running
  
• I actually achieved treating my workouts like a priority. This is huge for me since I typically treat gym time as a "have to/don't want to"
  
• I saw a dietician and between her and my trainer started cleaning up my eating and accountability issues with food
  
• I started praying again and trying to reconnect with God. This is definitely an "in progress" type thing for me.
  
• I helped a friend learn how to swim, and in the process got so much more than I gave - inspiration, the chance to be part of her accomplishment, a deeper friendship with someone amazing, a structure to help support my need to get up and workout on Saturday morngings, and a chance to learn a lot from how she meets her goals
  
• Broke a facebook rule and made a great new friend because of it
  
• Reconnected with another old friend and got really close
  
• Stood up for myself and the people I worked with at my job
  
• Learned to poach eggs
  
• Took a class on not only singing solo but leading a band in performance and then sang on stage with the band!
• Took responsibility for my needs and broke up with my boyfriend.
  
• Have managed, so far, to stay friends with him and still give him support.
  
• Took responsibility for my part in an unfortunate misunderstanding with a friend and patched up our friendship
  
• Went back to therapy (while some might see this as sad news, I see it as good news that I was ready to work on myself and start thinking about ways to improve my life)
  
• Started eating meat again! Aiieeeee! ( I still have some distance to go on cooking it but I've had bacon, chicken, duck, turkey, ham, pork tenderloin, burgers, and beef tenderloin so that's pretty solid for a 12 year recovering vegetarian)
  
• Started this blog. Was amazed at how much it resonated with people. (Surely I am not that interesting?!) Was even more fascinated by how much there is to learn about myself via writing about . . . me. So narcissistic, so weirdly helpful.
  
  
  To be full-on faithful to the mission of accountability and self-improvement, I should check this list against my goals and resolutions for 2011and see how I measure up. But for now, I'm going to rest on these laurels. I'm also going to stop typing since I managed, in the final 4 hours of my benefits, to chop part of my finger off last night.