Michelle Vetter

I've taught first grade and middle school language arts, and am certified in both, and also in middle grades social studies. I'm also certified as an adult English as a Second Language teacher. Currently, I write children's novels for a living.

Education should be a structured means of learning so all children have the ability to master and succeed in their world. This goes above and beyond succeeding in one area of talent, but is a mastery of all areas so that they are not even limited by personal talents, but by whatever their minds can conceive. I believe this is happening in areas of the United States, but that teachers should always be working to develop themselves and their curriculum to achieve this goal. The crux of my philosophy of teaching is child-centered learning. I believe a child-centered, hands-on approach to teaching and learning is crucial in creating a maximum learning environment for the students. The more the students can be involved with the curriculum, using all of their senses, the more they will learn and desire to learn. The more ways the students can interact with their learning environment, the more likely they will be to not only learn the objectives, but cultivate a lifelong love of learning. Important in this process is the creative use of resources and manipulatives, so that the students have a variety of hands-on activities, and I am willing to research and develop these using whatever resources that are available.

Who's Who Among American Graduate Students 2006

Bachelor of Science from Liberty University Post-Baccalaureate K-8 Generalist Education from Western Governor's University

I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in middle school. For some time, I wanted to be a music teacher, but found a greater love for languages and cultures in college. Right after college, I went to Japan to teach English, and would have happily stayed there indefinitely, but it was only a temporary position. When I returned to the United States, I taught at a local private school. I started as a fourth grade assistant, but they needed another computer teacher, so they switched me to a part-time computer teacher and part-time as a three-year-olds preschool assistant. At first, I was not sure that I would be good at working with very small children, but I fell in love with it. While I was in graduate school, I worked at a daycare, mainly with two and three-year-olds. I worked in another daycare after I returned home from graduate school.