About Me

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I've always been a teacher; I just haven't always been a teacher with a classroom. My road to the classroom involved several interesting stops after I earned a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University. Before earning my MA Ed., I worked in several different industries. Teaching and encouraging others were my favorite parts in every one of those jobs. When I look back, I can pinpoint how these experiences led me to a classroom of my own:

· My first encounter with curriculum writing at an insurance company. I thought the training process left room for improvement so I asked if I could write a training manual for the department! I then became a trainer myself. 

· As an administrative coordinator at a non-profit, I oversaw a childcare program for adults who were taking part in job readiness classes. Even though I was a paper-pusher, I sat in on class any chance I had. I also supervised and mentored an AmeriCorps VISTA literacy volunteer and a teenaged mom who was taking part in a work experience program. Inspiring students from different backgrounds to set goals and work hard to achieve them is a pretty amazing job!

· As an editorial assistant at a children's book publisher and library service, I learned a lot about the world of children's literature as well as what appeals to middle-grade reluctant readers and how the book publishing process works. I also did photo research on some pretty strange nonfiction topics like child mummies, cryptids, and venomous animals. (Falling asleep after a day of staring at killer snakes and spiders all day made for some interesting nights.) I even got to edit a book our company had purchased the rights to that I had read as a young teenager! How cool is that? I loved being a sponge there, just soaking all of that wonderful knowledge up so that I could use it in a classroom of my own one day. 

My classroom teaching experience includes language arts and social studies instruction in grades 5-9 with experience in urban and rural as well as public and private schools. Outside of the classroom, I have taught conversational English to adults in Ukraine and tutored third grade students from an urban district in math and reading.

I'm currently taking a leave of absence from the classroom to care for my family. However, I can't quite get away from the classroom altogether. I'm aspiring to inspire as a teacher-author on TeachersPayTeachers.com, blogger, and as a contributor to the Ohio Historical Society's on-line textbooks.

Thank you for visiting my blog!







MANY thanks to my talented brother-in-law, Ian Cunningham, who designed my logo and blog header. You can see his work at his Web sites:
http://www.aslanstudio.com
http://www.onetruehope.com

Header Images
© Tetyana Snezhyk | Dreamstime.com
© Marish | Dreamstime.com


I get the cutest fonts from Free Scrapbook Fonts! kevinandamanda.com/fonts

6 comments:

  1. Love your blog!! I teach in your area.

    ~Tracy
    A Perfectly Poetic Page

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  2. Hi, Tracy,

    Thanks so much! It's nice to connect with another upper elem/middle teacher. :)

    Kristen

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  3. What an interesting journey you have had! Glad to find another blogger from Ohio! (or at least I know you went to school there!)
    OH - IO

    Amy
    Eclectic Educating

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy that I found your blog. I teach 5th grade and it's hard to find innovative and engaging teaching practices for students in the age range. <3 it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi! Thanks for finding me! I enjoy meeting other 5th grade teachers, so I'm glad to have another connection.

    Kristen

    ReplyDelete

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