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Valerie
I have been a full-time classroom teacher for twenty-one years and have tutored grades K-7 during most of those years. I am a published writer with articles and poetry in many national magazines. My humorous book for teachers, "What the Prof Didn't Tell You", is available online at teacherhints.com, and through Amazon books. I have presented my teaching materials at several schools and inservices, and have developed successful programs for struggling readers.
I believe that true education can only occur in a context in which the whole child is acknowledged and valued. I believe that each child brings to class his or her own set of struggles, strengths, fears and experiences, and that the new approaches to setting goals and measuring a child primarily through impersonal testing and data are inherently flawed. I believe such practices will eventually result in a breed of children who are performers but not learners, who can imitate but not imagine, and who see their own value as measured by data. My teaching style seeks to unlock the child's ability to reason, to process and to create. Within a structured but warm classroom environment, I individualize learning objectives so that students push themselves to achieve at their own highest possible level. While my students do very well on standardized tests, my goal is that they find joy in the process of learning.
Teacher of the Year in my school, Finalist in Knoxville for the CARE award, Governor's Honor Teaching Academy, Tennessee Mountain Writer's poetry award recipient, Three booksignings by invitation at bookstores
BS in Elementary Education, Auburn Universtiy, various post grad courses at Univ. of TN
I have three grown children, a little grandson, two dogs and a motorcycle. The children are incredible, the grandson adorable, the dogs rather lovable, and the motorcycle a thrilling escape from all of them.
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