Introductions

Gosh! I'm sorry I didn't think of this first, but we really SHOULD introduce ourselves, shouldn't we? :-)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jenn Mitchell on August 12, 2008 at 4:50pm

Hi all! My name is Jennifer but most people call me Jenn (with two n's!!!). I have been teaching in my school district since 1995. I currently teach 4th grade---definitely my favorite age/grade level. I love to find new ideas to used in my classroom. I enjoy technology and am not afraid to use it with my class! I think my favorite part of the day is the read-aloud. I love to watch children learn to love books!

Permalink Reply by Maureen Ericikson on August 13, 2008 at 8:10pm

i am maureen, starting my 7th year at a small christian school teaching 5th, have taught inner city GED school, boys home for deliquents, in public school taught special ed. did student teaching over 20 years ago at state psychiatric hospital. am always learning new stuff. passionate about reading, kids, learning.

Permalink Reply by Joe D'Amato on October 26, 2008 at 12:14pm

I am not an elementary reading teacher, I am an administrator who would like to learn much more about the best practices used in teaching elementary school children reading. Currently my school is a 5-8 middle school, but I aspire to work in an elementary school.

I have some background in literacy, although it is mostly from personal readings, and working with a few dedicated reading teachers.

Permalink Reply by John Michael Tracy on March 20, 2010 at 10:13pm

If you or your school has the money, the columbia teacher's reading and writing project is really worth going to. It's Lucy Caulkin's deal. You can find more info at http://www.readingandwritingproject.com/members/home. It's pretty much, in my opinion, state of the art whole readingj/writing info.

Permalink Reply by Meghan Schaefer on November 20, 2008 at 12:38pm

I am a first grade teacher in Pennsylvania. I implement balanced literacy with a focus on guided reading/centers, writing workshop, shared reading, and word study. I love to see the progress that children make from the beginning of the school year to the end of the year. I am hoping to find more ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum, so that my students continue to be excited about reading and writing.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Heid on November 28, 2008 at 7:33pm

Hello~

I am currently a pre-service teacher going to school at Alverno College in Wisconsin. I am working at a KinderCare Learning Centers trying to get technology introduced to that location. I can't wait to get a classroom of my own. I love to play with new technology, and love coming up with ways to include it in my classrooms.

Permalink Reply by Sue R. on November 29, 2008 at 5:05pm

Hallo, All. My name is Sue, though I answer to "book" and spend most of my online life as "Bookwyrmish" -- as a lover of books, and dragons (great wyrms), I couldn't resist the handle. I went from being a big city law librarian in New England to a Pennsylvania country-side volunteer library aide in my eldest sons' school many years ago, and thence to library/tech teacher for the Quaker K-8 school where my youngest is now in 5th grade. In 2005 I went back and got a Master's in Early Childhood (most magical years, I think, with the formation of math concepts and early literacy learning). I'm currently taking a two month break from library/tech teaching to substitute for a colleague who has just had a baby. I'm really enjoying a chance to teach in this K-2 multiage classroom! Looking forward to continuing my learning journey alongside you all!

Permalink Reply by Lauraw on December 9, 2008 at 5:24am

Hello All,
My name is Laura and I am a soon to be teacher from NSW Australia. I have read the first couple of chapters from the Debbie Miller book and am really excited about discussing it and hearing about how it works in "real life".

Permalink Reply by Linda Rigg on December 10, 2008 at 9:09pm

Hi, All,
I am an elementary vice principal at a large school in an urban district in southern California. Our students are mostly second language learners. I've been reading your introductions, and it sounds like an interesting group. Lots of readers, teachers, and a few cat lovers, too. I fit into all three of those groups. I was a classroom teacher for fourteen years, a literacy coach for four years, and am currently in my second year as an administrator. I read all sorts of things - children's books, magazines, professional books, you name it. And, last but not least, I have two wacky cats - Syndey and Calcutta (Callie). Both rescues, both quirky, and unfortunately, they don't like each other much. They keep my husband and me entertained - and shaking our heads.
Well, I'm off to Rosetta Stone to work on my Spanish online. Adios!
Linda

Permalink Reply by Mrs. Godsey on December 11, 2008 at 3:30pm

I am a third grade teacher in Texas. I am currently married with two beautiful boys who are in elementary school. I have been teaching for the past seven years, two of those years were spent as a Campus Technologist. I was the staff to integrate technology into the curriculum, but to my dismay, I realized that I missed a classroom full of students. That is when I decided to return to the classroom. I feel that the classroom is my calling.

Jaime Godsey

Permalink Reply by Elisa Waingort on December 20, 2008 at 6:04pm

Hi Nicole,
Welcome! I was just curious when you say you are non-college of education teacher. What does that mean?
Looking forward to your response.
Elisa Waingort
Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual teacher
Calgary, Alberta

Permalink Reply by Adam Freeman on December 29, 2008 at 5:43am

Hi, folks! My name is Adam, and I am a third grade gen ed teacher. My school has a very limited ELL population (also, we are not yet a Title 1 school) however as part of our focus is with preschool special ed and schoolwide non cat/LD, we certainly have a fair bit of differentiation needs in our instructional day.

I consider myself to be sort of "The Mad Hatter" (without the mercury!) in that I wear all the academic "hats" in my classroom without ever having time to teach as deeply as I wish on any single subject. Math, science, social studies, writing, reading, Responsive Classroom/Morning Meeting, cursive/handwriting, health (!), and of course informal group therapy for children.
I say all this with the proverbial grain of salt - I love working with my clientele. I'd much rather spend time learning how to finger-knit from a pair of precocious 8-year-olds intent on "teaching the teacher", than being hunkered down in an office building with a bunch of boring old people. All they do is boss people around!

Now then - I'm brand new to CR 2.0 as well as Ning in general. I am very much a proponent of meaningful technology integration in the classroom, and lo and behold - I finally got a Smartboard and the SBTS loaded Notebook 10 on my laptop - I'm flying high! Part of my "mission" on this reading teachers group page is to improve my savvy in developing and planning web-based learning tools to use with guided reading groups as well as for independent learning assignments.

Of course, I could simply repeat that same "mission" to encompass my instruction in every academic arena - especially in the social studies/history lessons I teach.

I look forward to networking with all of you great techno-teachers!

Phew....more coffee!

Adam