I taught for a total of 32 years, mostly in second grade. After getting my Masters in special education, I spent 5 years as an LD Resource teacher before returning to the regular classroom. I have taught third grade and a multi-age primary class as well.
I have little if any patience for "data-driven instruction", the name my District gave to the practice of making sure students excel on NCLB mandated tests. It suggests that teachers never looked at the progress of their students and worked to fill in gaps before NCLB. Statistics have their place, but they should never be the primary measure of a teacher's competence.
I made it through thirty-two years of teaching without losing my love of teaching. I could not earn a higher honor. I am quoted in Regie Routman's book Reading Essentials published by Heinemann Books in 2003. She spent a week mentoring our school in 2002 and I was fortunate enough to work with her in my classroom.
I have a B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder. I received my Masters in Special Education from the same institution seven years later. Towards the end of my careerl I became a CLIP -trained teacher, a variation on the Reading Recovery Program instituted by Marie Clay.
I love to write, but my teaching strength is early literacy. I breed Labrador Retrievers. I am now retired and have no regrets as far as my career is concerned.
English Language Arts, Balanced Literacy, Creative Writing, Writing-Expository, Reading, Spelling, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Arithmetic, Basic Operations, Fractions, Geometry, Graphing, Measurement, Numbers, Science, Social Studies - History, Civics, U.S. History, EFL - ESL - ELD, Life Skills, Gifted and Talented, Critical Thinking, For All Subject Areas, Literature, Classroom Management, Character Education, Study Skills, Short Stories, Writing, Reading Strategies, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Christmas/ Chanukah/ Kwanzaa, Autumn, Mental Math, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, Black History Month