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In the United Kingdom, since, bookmaking has been legal and has even been a small contributor to the British economy, with a recent explosion of interest in the international gaming sector industry. Their working methods are similar to those of an actuary, who does a similar balancing of financial outcomes of events for the assurance and insurance industries.ĭepending on the country, bookmaking may be legal or illegal and is often regulated. Bookmakers do not generally attempt to make money from the bets themselves but rather by acting as market makers and profiting from the event regardless of the outcome. When a large bet comes in, a bookmaker may also try to lay off the risk by buying bets from other bookmakers. Since implementing StoryMaking in some of our preschool classrooms, our local museum and our library, I have studied formal and informal learning environments, researched learning spaces, and worked with Michelle to develop learning continuums associated with open-ended materials used in the makers’ movement, and specifically StoryMaking.By "adjusting the odds" in their favour (paying out amounts using odds that are less than what they determined to be the true odds) or by having a point spread, bookmakers aim to guarantee a profit by achieving a 'balanced book', either by getting an equal number of bets for each possible outcome or (when they are offering odds) by getting the amounts wagered on each outcome to reflect the odds. The best part of my job is that I get to play with four-year-olds and work with teachers every day! My areas of special interest include the role of play in early learning, multimodal literacies in young children’s lives, and learning through making. Currently I serve as the Director of Early Learning in the School District of Manatee County, where curriculum design and implementation for PreK – 2 has been a focus area for my work. After earning my Doctorate of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Childhood Reading and Language Arts, I worked as an instructor at the University of South Florida where I supervised interns, taught literacy, assessment, and writing courses in the College of Education.
![book themaker book themaker](https://live.staticflickr.com/1290/1188565172_4645b61e4a.jpg)
At the school level, I have been a teacher, literacy coach, and curriculum coordinator. My Master’s degree in Elementary Education, ESOL endorsement, certification in K-12 Reading, and certification in Preschool Education provide me with a strong knowledge base in the teaching and learning processes. Robin and I continue to innovate, research the field, design and tinker with new makerspaces and share our journey with our online StoryMaking community to support all educators implementing STEAM, Maker’s Movement practices and our own StoryMaking mission. I have been blessed with diverse opportunities in the field of education to be a special education teacher, literacy coach, International Baccalaureate Coordinator of a Primary Years Programme school, and an Early Learning District Specialist. Throughout my career, I have experience in coaching, designing curriculum aligned to standards collaboratively with teachers and providing training to teachers within the district, state and national level related to reading and writing instruction, inquiry practices, and content area literacy. These specialties allow me to design learning environments and curriculum for a wide variety of students’ needs. I hold a Master’s Degree in Varying Exceptionalities from the University of South Florida and am endorsed in Gifted, Reading and ESOL.
![book themaker book themaker](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5f/76/57/5f765706d386c97fc625f479d1c1c222.jpg)
I continue to work as an educator with a children’s museum and in early learning classrooms. I have been in the educational field for 20 years and am a consultant and national speaker that supports early learning educators in the implementation of StoryMaking, STEAM, literacy practices as well as transforming classroom environments by designing makerspaces.