Here is a little bit about me...
I am very excited to be at Boyle County Middle School, where attitude is everything! I recently relocated to the area to be closer to my family. My parents live in Lancaster, and my siblings live in Harrodsburg, Stanford, and Wilmore. Boyle County is a great location for me to be near everyone. I came here from Greenbrier County, WV, where I had lived since 1998. I have two great children, ages twelve and ten. They are the light of my life, and they are as excited as I am to be a part of the great things happening at Boyle County Schools
Teaching is not my first career. I worked in management for retail stores and for the United States Census Bureau for many years. I also spent nine years working in Specialized Family Care. We had developmentally disabled children and adults come and live in our home. I was a full time caregiver and advocate for their needs. Teaching, though, is my real passion. My degree is in Elementary and Middle School Education, with a focus on mathematics. The combination of my work and educational experience has prepared me to be the best I can be at teaching. I truly care about people, and communication is one of my strengths.
My Teaching Philosophy
I hope to change one life at a time. Mother Theresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” As a teacher, I hope to cast that stone over and over as I mold the young lives I touch each day.
I have chosen teaching as my career in the hopes that I will truly be able to support the academic and emotional needs of each student with whom I am privileged to interact. My desire is to light the flame which will grow into a raging fire of passion for learning and for personal ownership of one’s beliefs and convictions, both in academics and in life. I will consider my career to have been a success when I have made a life more meaningful and seen the light in a student’s eyes when they get that “A-ha!” moment in my classroom.
Teachers are very important in the lives of their students. A teacher can build self-confidence in a child, open their eyes to new and exciting things, build understanding of academic subjects, give a child a dream, and then watch as that dream materializes. A teacher must fill many roles in order to meet the needs of students. Teachers must become nurses, psychiatrists, disciplinarians, counselors, and educators. A teacher must get to know the potential of each student so that every possible need can be met. It is only with this in mind that the child can become the best he or she can be. A good teacher realizes that the children he or she touches are the future of our towns, communities, and ultimately our country. They will create our own future, and with that in mind we must strive to do our very best to help them realize their full potential.
As a teacher, I realize that I need to continually invest in myself and my own education. A teacher is like a bucket full of water with a hole in it. We are constantly watering others as we feed their needs, but we must replenish our supply in order to remain effective. With that in mind, I will constantly take classes and invest in my own professional development. I will work as part of a team so that I fulfill my mission to the best of my ability.
Each student I have the privilege of teaching is someone special. I will always remember that in the course of my work. It will be my responsibility to find and praise the good in each one. I will make it my personal goal to appropriately plan my lessons so that I can differentiate in order to reach everyone. Children do not just have academic needs; they have emotional needs as well. I will endeavor to get to know each student personally so that they can rely on me for emotional support. Having fun will be balanced with academic work in my classroom.
In order to succeed in today’s world, students will need to engage in higher-order thinking. I hope to adopt an inquiry approach to education in my classroom. I do not want to tell children the answers; I want them to figure the answers out. It is only in this way that they will come to “own” what they learn. It will belong to them, and they will be seldom inclined to forget it.
Technology is the wave of the future. Children will need to learn how to use technology appropriately to function in any career. I will make it my personal objective to include a technology component in every lesson. In my classroom, students will learn how to use technology appropriately and safely. We will use a variety of software and web programs as tools to help us learn. Technology will be embraced, and my students will leave class with a strengthened knowledge of how best to use it.
Structure and routine – I thrive on it. Organization makes me a better teacher. I thrive when I spend hours planning a lesson and anticipate what questions or issues will be raised. I expect that in my classroom students will live up to my expectations by respecting the order around them. I will negotiate a classroom contract in which the students agree to the rules and the consequences of breaking the contract. My biggest expectation from students is respect. I will respect them, and I expect them to respect me and one another. We will not talk over one another, but we will listen and appreciate the contributions of others. I will institute classroom celebrations for positive behavior reinforcement, but I will also deal with breaking of the rules by appropriate interventions. It may include having to stay in when other students take a break or it could even be a call home to parents. I maintain a personal belief that I am responsible for maintaining control of my classroom. Children need a safe environment in order to grow and learn, and my classroom discipline will support that environment.
Finally, I plan to involve parents and the community in my teaching. Parental involvement is a key to success. My classroom door will be open to parent volunteers, and I will immediately establish a communication system with parents. Newsletters, e-mails, notes, and parent meetings will all be part of my repertoire of communication. I hope to bring community members in to address the students about different careers. Other leaders may participate in teaching a lesson in their field if it aligns with objectives.
I will be the teacher who recognizes that I am learning along with my students. I will value their ideas, and I will open my heart to their innocence. I embrace the statement of William Butler Yeats when he said, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”
Teaching is not my first career. I worked in management for retail stores and for the United States Census Bureau for many years. I also spent nine years working in Specialized Family Care. We had developmentally disabled children and adults come and live in our home. I was a full time caregiver and advocate for their needs. Teaching, though, is my real passion. My degree is in Elementary and Middle School Education, with a focus on mathematics. The combination of my work and educational experience has prepared me to be the best I can be at teaching. I truly care about people, and communication is one of my strengths.
My Teaching Philosophy
I hope to change one life at a time. Mother Theresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” As a teacher, I hope to cast that stone over and over as I mold the young lives I touch each day.
I have chosen teaching as my career in the hopes that I will truly be able to support the academic and emotional needs of each student with whom I am privileged to interact. My desire is to light the flame which will grow into a raging fire of passion for learning and for personal ownership of one’s beliefs and convictions, both in academics and in life. I will consider my career to have been a success when I have made a life more meaningful and seen the light in a student’s eyes when they get that “A-ha!” moment in my classroom.
Teachers are very important in the lives of their students. A teacher can build self-confidence in a child, open their eyes to new and exciting things, build understanding of academic subjects, give a child a dream, and then watch as that dream materializes. A teacher must fill many roles in order to meet the needs of students. Teachers must become nurses, psychiatrists, disciplinarians, counselors, and educators. A teacher must get to know the potential of each student so that every possible need can be met. It is only with this in mind that the child can become the best he or she can be. A good teacher realizes that the children he or she touches are the future of our towns, communities, and ultimately our country. They will create our own future, and with that in mind we must strive to do our very best to help them realize their full potential.
As a teacher, I realize that I need to continually invest in myself and my own education. A teacher is like a bucket full of water with a hole in it. We are constantly watering others as we feed their needs, but we must replenish our supply in order to remain effective. With that in mind, I will constantly take classes and invest in my own professional development. I will work as part of a team so that I fulfill my mission to the best of my ability.
Each student I have the privilege of teaching is someone special. I will always remember that in the course of my work. It will be my responsibility to find and praise the good in each one. I will make it my personal goal to appropriately plan my lessons so that I can differentiate in order to reach everyone. Children do not just have academic needs; they have emotional needs as well. I will endeavor to get to know each student personally so that they can rely on me for emotional support. Having fun will be balanced with academic work in my classroom.
In order to succeed in today’s world, students will need to engage in higher-order thinking. I hope to adopt an inquiry approach to education in my classroom. I do not want to tell children the answers; I want them to figure the answers out. It is only in this way that they will come to “own” what they learn. It will belong to them, and they will be seldom inclined to forget it.
Technology is the wave of the future. Children will need to learn how to use technology appropriately to function in any career. I will make it my personal objective to include a technology component in every lesson. In my classroom, students will learn how to use technology appropriately and safely. We will use a variety of software and web programs as tools to help us learn. Technology will be embraced, and my students will leave class with a strengthened knowledge of how best to use it.
Structure and routine – I thrive on it. Organization makes me a better teacher. I thrive when I spend hours planning a lesson and anticipate what questions or issues will be raised. I expect that in my classroom students will live up to my expectations by respecting the order around them. I will negotiate a classroom contract in which the students agree to the rules and the consequences of breaking the contract. My biggest expectation from students is respect. I will respect them, and I expect them to respect me and one another. We will not talk over one another, but we will listen and appreciate the contributions of others. I will institute classroom celebrations for positive behavior reinforcement, but I will also deal with breaking of the rules by appropriate interventions. It may include having to stay in when other students take a break or it could even be a call home to parents. I maintain a personal belief that I am responsible for maintaining control of my classroom. Children need a safe environment in order to grow and learn, and my classroom discipline will support that environment.
Finally, I plan to involve parents and the community in my teaching. Parental involvement is a key to success. My classroom door will be open to parent volunteers, and I will immediately establish a communication system with parents. Newsletters, e-mails, notes, and parent meetings will all be part of my repertoire of communication. I hope to bring community members in to address the students about different careers. Other leaders may participate in teaching a lesson in their field if it aligns with objectives.
I will be the teacher who recognizes that I am learning along with my students. I will value their ideas, and I will open my heart to their innocence. I embrace the statement of William Butler Yeats when he said, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”