Denise

My training for my credential and my Master's degree allowed me to learn about how crucial performing science experiments and doing hands on activities in the classroom is for the students. I have also done a multicultural college course, that has allowed me to use that idea across the curriculum and engage students who speak another language. Our district hosts yearly trainings to improve language arts and math skills, as well as keeping up with new technology (which I use a lot in my classroom). My mantra is to engage the students fully into the lessons and standards being learned, and to make it so exciting and fun, that they will become lifetime learners! I have been a classroom teacher for nearly thirty years, and before that I ran a Denny's restaurant as a general manager. I hold a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction, and I have had many opportunities to use this in my classroom, with new teachers, during teacher trainings, and in life, in general. For many years, I was a legal secretary for a paralegal firm and also did some work as a mortgage loan processor. I have worked in many cooperative learning and teaching situations, in the area of education and business. I also hold a Secondary Education Business Education credential.

As a fourth grade classroom teacher, I plan activities, such as fun games, dress up days, contests, etc. for the entire school, to promote school spirit. I also run a monthly Student Council store, where we sell pencils and popcorn or fun school supplies. I dress up in costumes and visit I have taught students full time in classrooms, ranging from grades 2-6. I am lead teacher of my grade level in 4th grade, student council advisor, head up science days for our fourth graders, used to help run a fourth grade overnight camp in our local Mountain Park, stage a Gold Rush Boomtown in my classroom, which becomes an actual economy within our school setting, just to name a few things I have done. Technology was used every day in my classroom, when the kids were playing educational games, doing research for their latest project, creating Publisher documents and/or essays, poetry, checking online for answers and information, and when I used the Smartboard as enrichment or for interactive activities. I used daily planners for the students to record their assignments, write notes to them on their work, host small reading groups and use my back table to reteach when students are not understanding, circulate the room for understanding, grade many assignments together, to check for mastery, place kids in multileveled groups to work together. My colleagues and I had weekly meetings to discuss where we are at in the curriculum and to review any struggles or breakthroughs we are coming across, we planned weekly and monthly hands-on activities for the entire fourth grade, such as math, cultural, social studies, PE activities, etc. I sent a weekly email home to my parents that includes the lesson plans, and I send it by CC to my principal (headmaster) and the vice principal (depute), so they were aware of what is being taught in my class, as well as any upcoming events or tests. In the above ways, the students become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors. My goal was to make them aware of the world and the people around them, teach them to invest in relationships, and become lifetime learners who bring that learning back to the people they love and also the new ones that cross their paths. Throughout my career, I substitute taught while attending college to get my clear credential and Master's degree. When I came on full time, I was privileged to teach at all three of our elementary schools, and the junior high school.