1 year in high school, six years in junior high. Over the past few years I have taught LA and Social Studies at all grade levels in junior high, and Career & Life Management, Resource, and English to grades 10 through 12. I have also taught Legal Studies, Foods, Dance, Film Studies, Media & Advertising, Leadership, and Fashion Studies.
I employ inquiry-based learning and critical thinking strategies, yet still believe that some direct instruction in the foundations of reading and writing are key. In my junior high classroom the relationship with my students is of primary importance. I want my students to develop higher-order thinking skills and devote a lot of prep time to creating innovative and engaging activities that give my students the best opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Some of these activities work beautifully, others not so much - but that's part of the fun! Generally I develop my courses from scratch every year, but the majority of the activities that I post on TPT are the staples that I adapt to each grade level/curriculum and use over and over again.
Yet to be added
University of Victoria Bachelor of Arts - Medieval History and English Literature University of Calgary Bachelor of Education - Secondary Language Arts and Social Studies
Mother to two boys (2 years old and 1 month old), I am currently teaching grade 9 at a brand new, state-of-the-art middle school in Alberta, Canada with cutting edge technology (and serious angst about photocopying, to my chagrin). I will be adding more content related to the Alberta grade 9 Social Studies and Language Arts Programs of Studies over the course of the 2012/2013 school year.