Meet the Teacher Monday!

Hi, Welcome to Grace Falls Like Rain for Teacher Week 2011! I'm linking up at Blog Hoppin'- an awesome collaborative blog of some of the best teacher bloggers out there. So excited to join this amazing education community. First up, Meet the Teacher Monday.

Tell us a little something about you...

I'm Kathleen, I teach 5th grade at a Performing Arts Charter School and I love the arts. I just finished my Masters in Educational Studies with Teacher Certification K-8 (Go Blue!) Before that I completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance while teaching and dancing semi-professionally. While I'm not dancing anymore, I love using the arts in my classroom every day! (Once an artist, always an artist :-) There are so many benefits to using the arts (accessing the whole brain being a major one) that I can't wait to share throughout this year.  I am so glad I decided to go into education, teaching is my passion and I can't imagine doing anything else!

How long have you been teaching?

This is my first full year in a classroom, but I did teach arts-integration classes in several local schools for 4 years. My freshman year as a Dance Major I started a program called Mary's Movers, a Dance Arts Ed Class for K-3rd graders. Half the class was ballet/creative movement and the other half was reinforcing academic content through movement. That experience changed my life, not only in discerning that I was supposed to be a teacher, but also in how I teach. I student taught in 3rd grade and can't wait to work with my fabulous 5ths this year!

You might not know...

(Let's see how random I can be, in no particular order)

That I love diet coke, working for a high school youth group, cats (yes that's my cat in my profile pic hanging out in the splits), Grey's Anatomy, Make it Or Break It, Bachelor(ette) Nights with the Girls, Facebook, Blogging (and Blog-Stalking), Listening to worship music, Adoption advocacy, Musicals, Researching and Teaching Dancer Health and Wellness, and my latest summer craze, Harry Potter (yes, even though my generation grew up with the books, I just now read- and loved- them!)

 

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

So many things! Working with kids in the city- loving them, inspiring them to set goals for the future, learning lots from them, creating with them, Being a part of the fabulous 5th Grade Team at my school, Creating some new literacy and art units, and hopefully taking my 5ths to my University for a Field Trip.

*Fun Story- 4 years ago (right around the time I was deciding to teach) my English class had a component of teaching Creative Writing to Inner City Kids. It just happened to be in 5th grade at the same school I'm now working at! We took the kids back to our University for a field trip, to inspire them to add college to their goals. It was an amazing experience I hope to share with my students again this year! 

What do you need to improve?

As a new teacher starting out I have a lot I want to grow in. A couple of my goals are time management- not only during the day, but nights/weekends as well and to add in guided math groups to better reach my students at their level. I'd rather add in more goals or responsibilities later rather than to bite off too much at the beginning.

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

My Laptop- I have a SmartBoard this year so know that this is going to be an important tool in creating fun lessons for my kiddos.
Sticky Notes- I have them everywhere! Love to use them for exit slips/mini assessments.

Chart Paper/Mr. Sketch Markers- I love making anchor charts with my kids during mini lessons

Diet Coke- Enough Said :-)


Anything else you want to know? Please feel free to leave a comment or email me- (on the right).
Look forward to "meeting" more of you,