My expertise is in beginning reading/phonics/word study. I am a reading specialist and studied under renowned professors Shane Templeton and Donald Bear. I am a National Board Certified Teacher. Visit my blog: http://tchrgrl.blogspot.com I have been a teacher for 14 years. I have taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. I am currently teaching 1st grade. Five years ago I wrote a grant for a SMARTboard and received two for our school. Then, I entered the SMART Teacher content challenge contest and was the North American Primary Winner! I won a fabulous trip to London which was incredible. What a city! SMARTtech is an amazing company with amazing people and using their product has changed my life.
I would describe my teaching style as thorough. I like to find a student's exact Zone of Proximal Development through good assessments and questioning. One of the easiest indicators of this is a good word study test. I like the assessments in Word Journeys by Kathy Ganske. I then use the word sorts from Words Their Way to teach word study. I try to build a thorough understanding in the students for each subject I teach. I enjoy putting together valuable, clean looking lessons. When I design SMARTboard lessons, I always keep the goal in mind: Students are supposed to touch the board on most of the slides. I don't like to look for several different files, so I like to produce whole units of study. Check out my fraction unit. It is amazing, if I do say so myself!
North American Primary winner of the Smart Teacher Content Challenge Contest.
B.A. of Science in Elementary Education M.ED. Literacy Studies Other areas of expertise: Word Study
Elementary school teachers are the hardest working people in the world. I enjoy helping my colleagues find time to have a life outside of school. I strive for perfection. Please email me at tchrgrl@gmail.com with any comments or suggestions, or visit my blog at http://tchrgrl.blogspot.com