Let's start with a little non-teaching related information. I'm married to a wonderful man who serves our country each day by putting his life on the line to protect strangers! My wonderful police officer has made the past 7 years of my life so wonderful that I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could.
I am a mother to the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen. My little Annie made me her mommy on May 29, 2015 and it's been a crazy, fun, exciting, scary, whirlwind of a ride since the second she arrived (and really since we found out she was on her way)!
I also have one fur baby who has stolen my heart! My little Gandhi was born March 26, 2014 and became a part of our family on May 24, 2015.
Now on to the teaching information. I graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2012, after switching from 3 years of Pre-Med Biology, with an Early Childhood Education degree. The decision to switch fields did not come easily. I grew up wanting to be a scientist but upon entering college I realized that the medical field wasn't for me; I thought about switching to Marine Biology but my parents said they wouldn't help pay for that degree (I'm very fortunate that my parents helped put me through college and I didn't have to take out a single loan) because they feared there were no jobs in that field.
I really started thinking about my options and realized that the main thing I wanted in life was to help others! I had always loved playing school, helping my mom decorate her classroom, and helping my teachers grade papers, etc. Then it hit me, I wanted to be a teacher! I thought about switching to middle/high school teaching with a major in math and science (since I already had 3 years worth of credits) but finally decided on elementary grades because I love helping children grow.
Fast forward 3 years and here I am, entering my 4th year of teaching, as a 3rd grade teacher. I've taught in 2 different schools and have had over 600 students! My first 2 years of teaching I was blessed to be a Title I Reading/Math resource teacher. I worked with over 300 students a year who were well below grade level. This was one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Watching my students learn and grow and readers and mathematicians is something that I can't even begin to explain the feeling of.
My 3rd year of teaching brought me to a new district and new school. I hired as a 3rd grade teacher and had 27 students. Little did I know that I would be given one of the most challenging classrooms in school. My principal decided to make my room the special education/gifted inclusion cluster. This meant that I had 1/3 of my class identified as special education, 1/3 gifted/high potential, and the remaining 1/3 was general education with most having RTIs and EIPs but not yet identified as special education. I had no experience with teaching special education or IEPs, EIPs, RTIs, etc. It was the most challenging experience of my career! However, I worked with many wonderful teachers and did a TON of research and finally figured out some ways to make it work. My students showed so much growth and performed much higher than they were expected to! Looking back, I couldn't be more proud of my students and how hard they worked to succeed!
This will be my 2nd year in 3rd grade. My class population will be changing again and I will have to do more research, learn new interventions, etc. but I'm ready to grow and learn right along with my new students!
I hope you see this. You've just saved me SO much work. I've used the sunglass template in the past, but the one I have involved me cutting out the sunglasses and the paper separately, and then gluing the paper into the sunglasses. Your template is making me SO, SO happy right now!!!!!!!!! Thank you for being so clever and generous.
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