Let's get to know each other. For your first assignment, introduce yourself to the rest of the class by adding a comment to this post. Use your name as the title to your introduction. I have started by posting a little about myself.
In addition , post a picture and a short statement in your own profile. You can also view my profile as a sample.
21 comments:
As a thirty-one year English teacher, I enjoy both writing and the teaching of writing. I am a graduate of Colorado State University (BA) and Middlebury College, Oxford (MA.).My teaching career began in my home state of Colorado where I taught Head Start and elementary school. Most of my Alaskan years were spent at Susitna Valley Junior/Senior High School. During my tenure, I taught a wide range of literature courses, drama, journalism, media and college-prep English, as well as the required classes for 7-12.
For the past eight years, I have taught freshman English classes at the University of Alaska, Mat-Su Campus and facilitated classes and workshops chiefly through the Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC). I strongly believe writing is key to all academic success. I have been teaching classes online for UAA and ASWC for four years.
One of the first things the careful reader may note is that my name can be spelled two ways! The correct pronunciation is "Sondra" but the official spelling is "Sandra" so you see the problem. I alternate spellings.
My home is Trapper Creek where I live in a log house with my husband and faithful border collie, Moss. We have a small farm where we have raised kids, pigs, chickens, rabbits and produce. This year we have scaled back and have only a small garden. I am writing this, however, on the sunny porch of a small place in Arizona where we escape for a few months each winter while I continue teaching online.
The reason I have included a bird on the post is because my husband and I are avid birders. We love to travel and most of our trips have include being in the countryside looking for exotic birds. I am fascinated by birds and have been bird watching on six continents. I have only been back from South Africa for a few days as many of you know from my earlier emails. I plan to spice up the site with an African photo once in a while. I am still processing the amazing, month-long introduction to Africa. Wow!
I hope you are looking forward to our online adventure in writing as much as I am. Do not hesitate to email me with any questions as the class gets underway.
Hi There!
I am a fourth grade teacher here in Fairbanks. I started out 24 years ago in the early childhood education field with preschoolers and eleven years ago moved to 1st graders and then to fourth graders. Four years ago I decided to finish a masters degree in administration and one day may want to move into administration but for now love being in my classroom.
I was born and raised here in Fairbanks. My husband and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary this June and have three children.
We just drove by Trapper Creek earlier today on our way home from a Curling Bonspiel in Anchorage. Trapper Creek is chalked full of new snow that fell in a days time but on the drive home the mountain was out in a crystal blue sky, gorgeous!!!!
I took a week long writing class last summer and had a great time sharing and learning about writing. I look forward to doing the same in this class.
Hi, my name is Jan Gable. I just spent 30 minutes trying to write a little about my life and just realized how convoluted it has been. So the short bio is: Born in Cedar City, UT; Joined US Air Force April 1975; met my husband at Kessler AFB August 31, 1975, married November 26, 1975; moved to Germany January 1976. Since then we have had one son, Issac now 30. We have lived in Germany, Georgia, Utah, New Hampshire, California, Oklahoma, and of course Alaska. Started College in 1978 and finished BS in 1993, M.Ed in 1998. Moved to Alaska after graduation in 1998 and have taught 11 years in three districts. (If you are missing four years of teaching it was in Georgia, the third time we lived there, 1994 – 1996.)
The reason my photo is a picture of a gasqeq is because in most villages we have taught in I am known as the qaspeq teacher. I lost count of how many I had made somewhere around my 430th qaspeq, back in 2005, but I still enjoy making them and it gives me a real kick when I can make a qaspeq that no one else has ever made. I have made pockets with quiltagomi (folded fabric) small quilt squares and of course machine embroidery. As one lady said “I can’t wait to see how you will make us look pretty this time.” My greatest joy is when they come back with great big smiles to tell me that they couldn’t get out of church because everyone wanted to know where they got their qaspeq.
Those of you who work in the bush may have seen the article in the Tundra Drums that displayed three of Grant agents wearing their new counter uniforms. I digitized their logo and embroidered it on the pocket of the qaspeqs they now wear behind the counter when the weather is warm enough. The photo is one of the child qaspeqs that were given away in a drawing.
I have taught 15 ½ years and for the most part it has been a mixture of Kindergarten/First grade and special education. For the past two years I have assisted my husband, Robert Gable also part of this course, with teaching a high school reading and writing class that was too large to fit in any classroom in our school. While I feel that I am fully qualified to teach reading, I often feel that I am one lesson away of making a fool of myself in front of my high school writing students.
Shelly Walker’s Autobiography
After teaching for six years in Metlakatla, my husband Trevan, daughter Alexi, and I moved to Seward a year and half ago (and added baby Marin to our family), where Trevan took an administrative position and I became the alternative education/ language arts teacher for Seward High School. We are enjoying four seasons, a road, owning our own plot of dirt, and less rain, but are occasionally nostalgic for the sense of community we felt in Southeast (Trevan is a lifer from Ketchikan; I am a recovering cheesehead who realized the practicality of trading in my thoroughbred for 250 of them on the back of our boat). I miss our date nights SE Alaskan style, boating eighteen miles to Ocean View in Ketchikan for the best pizza, all the while soaking the crab and shrimp pots to harvest on the trip back home to Met.
The picture I’ve chosen is of my family, Trevan holding Alexi and Marin on one of my mom’s incredible ponies (basically a flying couch for all of the grandkids), back in Wisconsin, where I receive much needed family and equine fixes every Christmas and summer. I tried to think of the perfect photo that would represent one or all of my hobbies, but I’ve put most of those on hold since becoming a Mother of Small Children. At this phase in my life, I’ve traded individually satisfying endeavors such as competing in marathons and triathlons for getting out the door with all boots, hats, and mittens on for a sledding or snowman-building adventure, a challenge I wouldn’t trade for any other right now. I do still manage to volunteer as a foster dog mom for local golden retriever and German shepherd rescues.
In my new job here in Seward, teaching social studies content in conjunction with reading and writing standards seemed like the next logical step in my career, although it hasn’t been without its challenges. In an environment where students choose how they will meet their content level standards, it is not always easy to foster beneficial whole class discussions, the sustenance of most language arts classrooms. I’ve had to stretch myself out of my comfort zone daily to really provide differentiated instruction, as most successful teaching strategies I’ve assembled over the years needed retooling in this standards-based program. I do, however, really love my job.
Professionally, I’m looking for the next thing to sink my teeth into. I’ve recently completed my national boards in adolescent language arts and graduated from Bread Loaf too many years ago. I’m taking this course as a refresher, to help me connect with other writing teachers, and to give me new exciting ideas for my work here. I look forward to meeting and interacting with all of you online.
Robert Gable was born in Texas some fifty-seven years ago. He has traveled to Japan when he was three, Hawaii (before it was a state)when he was five, and has live in twenty-two states and three countries.
I started in education in 1996 where my first teaching assignment was at a brand new middle school in August, GA. I was working under a provisional teaching certificate. I finished my teacher education at Southern Utah University in 1998 with both my Masters in Education and Bachelor of Science in Education. In 1999, I received my Special Education endorsement.
I earned an Administrators endorsement in 2003 and served as a site administrator at two different schools: Emmonak School, Emmonak, AK and Walter Northway School, Northway, AK. I returned to the classroom in 2005 as a Special Education teacher and then as a 6th through High School teacher.
I had previously earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma (1984) and a Masters of Science degree in Management from Georgia College and State University (1988). I acquired an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Technology form the Community College of the Air Force in 1986.
I have been a life long learner as far back as I can remember. Being a professional Educator is my third career. I am a veteran who served during the Vietnam War in the USAF and have served with the US Army Reserve and the US Navy Reserve.
Hello! My name is Lance Smith. I teach in the Anchorage School District and currently work in the Educational Technology Department. I have worked in the A.S.D since 1989.
I chose the picture I did because I thought it captured the power of "mother nature". It is a static flower, but appears to be bursting with life.
I have a wonderful family of four and have been married to my beautiful and very patient wife since 1988. My oldest daughter is 21 and my youngest daughter is 12. We all share our love with our ‘bad’ dog named Jack. Jack is a stubborn Pomeranian who is the best friend you could ever have swipe your dinner, gulp it down, and grin at you nearly at the same time.
I am very glad to be in this class
My name is Darla Grediagin. I am the District Librarian for Bering Strait School District. I LOVE my job. I have told my children and students that the best way to enjoy life is to make your avocation your vocation. I have not problem working 14 out of my 16 waking hours a day.
The goal that I have in this class is to learn more about the resources that students will need to do the research they need to learn what they want to know. This goes beyond what we teach them in class. The main thing I love about the library is that I encourage students in their information desires.
I have found that when starting out in anything, I want to be fully immersed in it. This has been the case with everything I have ever been passionate about; from snowboarding to teaching and learning. My passion for education and my love for the outdoors, and a bit of adventure, is what landed me in Alaska. I grew up in a small farming and logging town in Washington, where the entire community would know that you had misbehaved within an hour or two. That sense of community stuck with me as I ventured forth to college. I attended Central Washington University in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington. I remember hating it when I first arrived, but after a year or so I found myself falling in love with the community.
Throughout my time at Central I learned a great deal about life, both in and out of the classroom, and was fortunate enough to get some experience prior to graduation. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn from so many professionals outside of the University. Being a student was wonderful, but I was constantly counting down to the day I would finally be a teacher. That day arrived quickly after graduation.
I found myself standing before a large group of second graders in August, wondering who was more frightened about the first day of school. I had a sneaking suspicion it was me, but I never let it show. This May will culminate my first year of teaching, and what an adventure it has been! I am looking forward to all that the years ahead will bring, as well as all of the great things still to come for this year.
I am excited to continue learning and developing as a professional. I am eager to become a more effective teacher of writing and look forward to learning and sharing with other professionals.
Hello from Molly in Fairbanks!
Current teaching/writing:
THis year I am teaching 4th grade after several years with primary multi-age people. My writing these days consists of modeling with my 4th graders as we do our "Daily Pages" mind-dumping. Not much quantity but this little bit always leaves me thinking in my writing mind and glad to be writing.
I am also a sometime teacher of English 111/basic composition in the evenings at UAF. There are remarkable similarities between first & second writers and developing college writers!
Writing/Edu History:
My graduate degree from Bread Loaf and my years as a remote site field cook -- before teaching--continue to fuel my writing life.
I have been teaching since 1994, mostly in Fairbanks (with a mini-job in Unalaska a decade ago and a year at a crazy public charter school in Boston.)
After listening to this evening's introductions I look forward to working with people who have so much to offer in ideas, enthusiasm and experience.
I’ve been teaching here in Alaska for 3 years now. I moved up here to Kasigluk in 2006 after graduating from North Central University, a small private school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Originally, I went to school to become an elementary teacher, but when I was offered a job to teach high school language arts, I couldn’t resist. So here I am, teaching high school language arts, as well as five other classes.
This past summer, I spent in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working on my masters through Bread Loaf School of English. I’ve completed one summer and have four more to go.
When I’m not teaching, I enjoy being outdoors and traveling. I did my student teaching Mexico City, taught English in China, worked at a Bible camp in Fiji, backpacked through Europe, and traveled through Central America. I think if I could get paid to travel, I’d probably give up doing anything else.
Personally and professionally, I'd like to become a better writer. I enjoy writing and working together with other teachers, so I'm looking forward to all the personal and professional development this class has to offer.
I have wanted to teach as long as I can remember. I grew up in Elfin Cove, which is not even a one horse town, about 90 miles west of Juneau. The school there had an enrollment average of 12 students, Kindergarten through 12th grade. When I was in 6th grade I was the oldest student and did a lot of “helping” with the younger students. I was able to pick art lessons and teach the younger kids how to play kick ball.
I decided to venture to the lower 48 to attend Pacific University where I graduated from with my teaching Oregon credential. When it came time to decide where to settle, I could not resist the call of my home. Free rent with my parents was an added bonus. During the past couple of years, I have lived in four different Southeast towns, bought a boat, gotten married, bought a house, and taught in 3 different schools. My husband and I work together in the summer, commercially trolling for salmon and charter fishing. Currently, I am teaching Kindergarten and I will be looping up to 1st grade next year with my class.
I look forward to developing my writing and working collaboratively with other professionals from around the state. I am also excited to learn more about the art of teaching writing and helping my students to love writing from the beginning of their school career.
All About Me:
I am a first grade teacher at Baxter Elementary in Anchorage. I grew up here but I went "outside" 6 years for college and then for 2 years while my husband attended flight school. I moved back home this July and bought a house a stone throw from both sets of parents, a nice location as Nic is deployed until October. My family is thick with educators; both my mom and my grandma are/were teachers/administrators, both my in-laws are principals, and both my sis-in-laws are teachers. I am as happy discussing classrooms, curriculum, and research as I am discussing the latest episode of the Office or 30 Rock.
I have two dogs, both ironically rescued off of schools. My first one was the object of a tug-o-war game at Muldoon Elementary here in town, and my second one came from the University of Nevada, Reno's campus. I am allergic to chocolate and my elbows are double jointed. My favorite food is sandwiches, color is yellow, and season is autumn.
I am really looking forward to getting direction on implementing writing curriculum with more focus into my instruction. I am eager to gather as many ideas and advice as I can. I do have admit that I accidentally bought the first edition and hope that will not be too much of a hindrance.
I really considered creating an alter ego for this introduction, a person with some wildly exotic background. My experience with bios in the past is that they've all been exceedingly dull and only served to accentuate the banality of my life thus far. Don’t get me wrong - I love my life and wouldn’t trade my wonderfully predictable existence for anything. It just doesn’t make for terribly interesting reading.
So, in an effort to spice things up a bit, I will juxtapose my actual life with the life of my alter ego Carlos, international super-spy. I was born in Irving, Texas and have spent the greater part of my life living in the Lone Star state. After graduating from Texas Tech University with a BA in English Literature and Language, my wife and high school sweetheart, Juli, and I decided to load up our limited belongings in the back of a Nissan Xterra to seek adventure in Alaska. Time trotted along, and what was originally intended as a year long Alaskan adventure evolved over time into a new life, complete with a house, two kids, and a loveable but obstinate Labrador retriever.
Carlos, my alter-eog, was born to a famous pastry chef and master mime, Alvero, in Cartagena, Columbia. Although Carols showed an early affinity for soufflés, his true passion stemmed from his father’s love of the performing arts. After high school, he joined a traveling Thespian company and toured extensively throughout South and Central America. The company, Los Pájaro Cantors, were relatively unknown until Carlos’ arrival, but quickly became prominent due in no small measure to Carlos’ vitality and staggering good looks. A year after joining the company, while performing Taming of the Shrew, Carlos (in the role Petruccio) met his wife Adoncia (in the role of Katherine). Despite Adoncia’s abnormally large forehead, Carols was smitten and they were married after a brief two day courtship.
While in Alaska, I earned my MAT from University of Alaska, Anchorage. Upon the completion of my internship for the MAT program, I was hired by my host school, Bartlett High School. I’m now in my fifth year as a teacher and loving every minute of it. Admittedly, I was first drawn to this profession simply because I saw no other real use for an English degree except teaching (at least in Anchorage, Alaska that is.) Still, I usually tell people that my decision to teach was inspired by a burning desire to save lives and remedy the pervasive social ills or our generation, but I dispensed with that story since, unlike Carlos, I can’t act.
Unfortunately, the good-fortune that characterized Carlos’ youth would soon come to an end. Adoncia, Carlos’ soul-mate, became collateral damage in a gun fight between rival theater owners in Bogata. Distraught from this tragedy and disenchanted with a seemingly cruel and indifferent universe, Carlos spent the next two years in obscurity working as a bartender in Cocili, Panama. Here, he was recruited by a CIA agent, Arthur Hinderman, who immediately recognized in Carlos a prowess for assuming fictional identities and acute indifference to human life (a direct result of Adoncia’s untimely death.) Thus, over a bottle of mescal in a smoky Cocili bar, an international spy/assassin was born.
I am so impressed with all the commitment to students I see in these posts. I believe we a wide range of dedicated professionals at work on this sit.
Oh, Oh--I can't seem to correct my error! That would be site not sit that we are on!!
Well, here is another Sandra, but I prefer to be called Sandy. My students call me Ms. Mac. There's a story behind that. When I began my teaching career at an alernative high school in California, most of my students were Hispanic and could not pronounce 'McCulloch.' One day as I walked into school, the principal greeted me with, "Hi, Ms. Mac." Well, it stuck.
I am a graduate of California State University, Stanislaus (BA), and Middlebury College,Oxford(MA.). I have also earned NASDTEC Certification in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
I drove to Alaska in 1994 and began my teaching adventure as a substitute teacher in Fairbanks. At the end of November that year, my adventure continued in Nome where I served as long-term sub, teaching high school English. I also did some reporting for the Nome Nugget during the spring of 1995. That was fun. Even got to fly to Savoonga to report on a school board meeting. Watched Libby Riddles cross the finish line of the Iditarod.
Since 1995 I have taught English and English as a Second Language for the Lower Kuskokwim School District. I really love teaching writing and doing my own personal writing. However, this year is a dry one for me. My plot of land needs some watering so the seeds of creativity will blossom again. That is why I am so excited about this class.
Home 10 months of the year is Chefornak, a Yupik village 100 miles south of Bethel. My two cats, Sir Paddy Widget and Princess Butterscotch Creamcycle, and dog, Lucky, are good company and keep me entertained. Summer finds me in Ocean Shores, WA. I chose Ocean Shores for its variety of wildlife, especially birds. And, it's as far north as I could get my daughter to move. Bother.
My motto since driving to Alaska in 1994 has been"the adventure continues." I am looking forward to continuing my writing adventure with you all. En Joy, Sandy
Having lived many years as an underachiever (high school drop-out), I spent some as an overachiever (graduated from college with a 4.0) and now I realize that I have sort of come full circle in that I am not too stressed being just about the last to post a bio.
I have a masters degree in special education and gifted education. However, I really believe that all of my years tending bar prepared me to teach more than college did. I began teaching deaf students, have coordinated several programs for gifted students and I spent most of my career teaching high school special ed. My greatest teaching experiences have been developing programs that combined both sp ed and gifted students.
Thinking I will one day be old(er) and should be a school psychologist or an administrator or something I pursued both and right at the end didn't finish either one. I am happy being a teacher.
I value a sense of humor. My family is pretty funny. They are much funnier than me, which is great--I laugh a lot.
My children are as diverse as my life has been. My oldest son went to MT state on a football scholarship, quit college after his junior year, joined the Army and went to Iraq. He will be visiting on leave in a couple of weeks. He's contemplating another tour in Afghanistan.
My daughter lives in Hawaii. After completing 2 years of college during high school and winning national dance competitions she headed to college on the Big Island. She also completed her junior year and quit to become an entrepreneur and care taker of the planet. She is very opposed to the war.
After leading me to believe that I was their hero for years, they both pursued teaching in college and abandoned it.
Like me, they like change. They like people and doing things that keep you thinking. In pursuit of that I came to AK with my husband and son 4 years ago and taught in a village up North. It was an amazing adventure for all of us. We are now in Southeast with my 13 year old son and we are loving it here as well. I am teaching middle school students.
The one constant in my life is that I enjoy writing, teaching writing and reading others writing, that has never changed. I enjoyed the bios that were posted and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.
Hello from Sitka by the Sea. I answer to the nickname “EJ.” My husband, of thirty-seven and a half years and I have lived in Southeast AK for the past thirty-five years. We have three grown sons (all adopted through the State of AK). We have a beautiful two and a half year old granddaughter. We are blessed to have Autumn live with us full time.
My husband and I handled our mid-life crisis by attending college in our forties. We are both special education teachers. Prior to this year I was a special education teacher at the high school (1year) and the middle school (7years). This year I am teaching in the developmental preschool with our district. I still say the same phrases (keep your hands to yourself), but they have an entirely different meaning at the preschool level than they did at the middle school level.
Thanks to Marlie I will be able to stay in this class. I seem to have a disability when it comes to technology. So I feel like I am getting two courses for the price of one. I look forward to learning from each of you.
Ok, so it's week one and I'm already behind. I could give excuses, or I could just jump in. I guess I'll jump...
I'm nearly through my first full year of teaching, and two thoughts keep coming through my head. The first is, wow, this is the hardest job I've ever done! At the end of each contract day, I'm exhausted emotionally and mentally, and I still have five lessons to prepare for tomorrow. Happily, the second thought is this: Wow, I have the best job in the world. I mean, they pay me to study and hang out with kids! Incredible. What else would I rather be doing?
Something I realized early on is how much these kids are listening to me, even the ones who appear otherwise. I read their journals and hear my own words parroted back to me, or I hear them talking to each other, debating something I said in class. What a position of responsibility I have been given! People trust me with their kids. Wow. So that has caused me to reflect on myself--who am I and what am I trying to get across to kids?
My name, Ruth, means compassionate friend, and that's who I strive to be. As a teacher, I can't always be a friend, but I can be compassionate. Sure, the bottom line for me to keep my job is student learning, that's what I'm hired to do, but more important to me personally will be if kids leave my room feeling like I cared about them as people.
In light of that, I have the best assignment in the world: I teach Language Arts and Social Studies to 7-12 graders at Susan B. English school in Seldovia, a small town across Kachemak Bay from Homer. My average class size is ten students, and THAT ROCKS! I have time to get to know each person individually, and that's a beautiful thing.
And I love the aha! moments when I see the light go on in the students' eyes as they "get it." I love the fact that I'm asked to teach things outside of my background (such as Social Studies) because I learn so much through preparing for class.
As for writing, I write to connect with people. I want people to know who I am and what I'm thinking, so I write to let them in. Welcome!
Jerrilyn: I am a graduate of Idaho State University (BS) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (M.Ed.). My school counseling career began in Fairbanks when I was hired as an Elementary School Counselor. I was living in Germany and was interviewed and hired over the phone! For the past four years I have been a secondary school counselor at Hutchison High School in Fairbanks.
I had a great opportunity to travel all over the world for 20+ years with my husband, an Army Aviator, our four daughters, and our labradors.
I have three daughters in college, one at University of Fairbanks'10, and two daughters at Washington State University scheduled to graduate May 2009.
I am looking forward to this Writing Institute!
I am the facilitator in the Alternative Classroom for the high school at Unalaska and am expected to be able to help the students in every aspect of their educational careers. While Algebra was my biggest bulwark last year, next year I am expected to assist the one English teacher with her huge numbers by teaching a writing class in concurrence with her Senior English Class. I will be blessed by the more challenging behaviorally, as well as a number of ESL students from a variety of countries around the globe.
The biggest adversity this school faces, besides increasing numbers, is the number of ESL students coming into the district without a working knowledge of English. While the total population of students is much smaller than the Anchorage schools, my guess is that our percentage of ESL students is at least as high as their schools and, probably, higher.
So, my goal with this class is to learn to be comfortable teaching a writing class that will inspire even the most resistant, while increasing the ESL learner’s vocabulary and decreasing the punctuation struggles to make everyone a competent and proficient writer.
Lofty Sondra? I think not.
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