Reading and Writing Instruction for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Spring, 2009, Hickory, NC

As a first assignment, please click on Post a New Entry on the right. When challenged, put the user name and password given to you in class. Then provide a self introduction. Be sure to include some of the artifacts from your "My Bag." You must also respond to at least one of your classmate's posts.

Hello Classmates! My name is Christy. I currently teach 3rd grade at Icard Elementary School. This is my 10th year of teaching. I am almost finished with my graduate degree. I have 2 more classes after this semester. YEAH!

One of the items that I will be including in my Me bag will be a book about my family that I had to put together for the adoption agency. My husband and I are adopting a newborn in the near future. We have finally finished all of the paperwork (after a year!) and we are just waiting to hear from the agency when a birthmother picks us to parent her child. We do not know if it will be a boy or a girl, or even where in the US the baby will come from. Like many expectant parents, we are excited!

Another item that I plan to include in my Me bag will be my latest crochet project. I can not sit still when I am at the house, so I have to have something to keep me occupied. I crochet scarves, hats, and blankets. Now that school has started back, I will have very little time to work on my blanket.

I am going to leave my other Me bag items as a surprise until class. I do not want to bore my group members. :) Have a great week!

Hello, my name is Misty Mistretta! This year I was awarded Teacher of the Year at my school. After teaching first grade for four years I was moved to third grade. This is where I am currently at in my teaching career. Before I received my teaching degree from ASU, I was an EC assistant for one year and a third grade assistant for one year. I am remarried and have a four-year son that is the love of my life.
I consider myself to be a very lucky woman! My husband does all of the cooking and it is wonderful! He wanted to be a chef, but at the time there were no colleges close to home. So he cooks and I do the dishes! All of my free time is spent with my son and husband! This is my second semester at ASU.
I also have an identical twin sister! She lives in the county that I teach in so my students and parents are always thinking that I am her! Some people do not know that I have a twin and when they see her and she doesn't speak they think that I am "stuck-up." We look so much alike that my son even gets confused! Sometimes he will look at her or me and ask, "Are you my mommy?"

Hi!!
I'm looking forward to RE 5730. Well my life is rather interesting. In "my bag" I will include pictures of my two grandsons, and my two daughters. Myself also included. I have taught at DSES for 8 years and teach kindergarten. I am an instructor at CCCTI in the ESL Lab on Tues. nights. This is my eighth class in the reading masters program. I am consumed with school and my children and grandchildren. Monica, my oldest daughter is in the USAF and will leave for Greenland in March. My other daughter is living in Korea with my 2 grandchildren where her husband is stationed in the Army. I will include more information in my bag and will see everyone in 2 weeks.
Robin Hand

Hi...my name is Erin. I am currently a first grade teacher at Sweetwater Elementary. For those that may not know...Sweetwater is the oldest school in the county and we will be closing at the end of this year. For most everyone involved, it is somewhat bittersweet! Some of the objects that will be found in My Bag will be pictures. I have a wonderful family. Included in my family are my dearest friends (families are not always connected by blood). I also have a picture of my beloved dog, Bentley! He is like my child and a tremendous part of my life! Hope you get to see some of the other things that I include!

Hi. I teach 2nd grade at Sweetwater Elementary in Catawba County. Sweetwater will close at the end of this school year. I am sad about losing my students, but I am excited about the upcoming changes. I have a 12 yr. old son, Hunter. He causes all of my gray hair while giving me great happiness. We have a dog named Beethoven. Beethoven has trained us well.
He slams his water bowl on the floor when it is empty, bites our hand for a head rub and sticks his bottom in the air for scratch above his tail.

Hi am Lynn Lawson
I am a third grade teacher at Salem Elementary in Morganton. This is my first year teaching third and my 10th year overall. I have been married for a year and a half. My husband is a stone mason. I have a teenage step-daughter and a littel dog named Brodie. He is a mess.

In my bag I will place a US map that represents the seven different states that I have lived in. I will also place my favorite snack , chocolate, in the bag. I love chocolate!!! I am also in training to run a 5k in May. I have just started and so far not so bad. I am hoping also to drop a few lbs. as I do this. I am also a huge fan of the beach. I would rater be there than most anywhere in the world.

I will also have a couple more things that I wont tell you about now, so that you will be a litte surprised.

Hi, y'all!

I'm happy to be back to normal routine and back to work.....type A personality, not happy unless frantically working toward something.

About me....I teach at Gamewell Elementary in Caldwell County. I'm a "Literacy Specialist", although I'm not a specialist at anything yet, but I'm working on it. If you're like me, I'm getting so much useful and applicable information and strategies that I can use in the classroom. Too many of our students are at risk and struggling, when reading should be an escape and a true enjoyment for them. I hope I can help someone become a better reader.

We moved to Lenoir 2 years ago from Eastern Long Island, North Fork. Very country, (NOT NYC). We loved the ocean, and we miss it, but we like the mountains, too. The people here are very different. People actually care about each other, and take the time to look you in the eye.
I have two kids, one at CCCTI and the other at CCCMC. My husband is a tile/masonary contractor, but hasn't been too busy since we moved here. (Could be that built in pool he built for us single-handedly!) We are very blessed and fortunate to be living in this beautiful place with resources to sustain us.

My bag will probably be a lot like all of yours. I love books, gardening, sewing, cooking, and kayaking. But I have a few surprises I'll leave 'til next time.

Wonder if anyone else is just as overwhelmed by all of this new work as I am?
Take care until next time,

Annie Croon

Hi everyone. My name is Bethany and I currently teach second grade at Sweetwater Elementary. I began this program last Fall and I can't believe how much I have learned and been able to apply so far. I am looking forward to this class because I have only taught second grade and below, so I have a lot to learn about adolescent readers. I have been married for almost five years and I have no children yet, so I live to spoil my only niece and my dog. Their pictures will definitley be in my My Bag!!

Hi all...I'm a 5th grade teacher in Gaston County, at Kiser Elementary. I'm very excited that I only have two classes left....I'll be finished in June 2009. I'm taking Product RE 5525 along with this class. I hope to teach middle school Lang. Arts 2009-2010 school year. I enjoy reading, hanging out with my teenagers at home and out and about, and I absolutely love going on dates with my husband. Currently life is good!! Look forward to sharing "MY BAG" with you all.

Hi!! My name is Lydia Gwaltney and I am first grade teacher at Stony Point Elementary. This is my fourth year teaching in which I have been in first grade for all four. I am married to a wonderful man named Aron and we have two fab. dogs named Havok (doberman) and Diesel (great dane). We are very into outdoor sports and some indoor. We snowboard, kiteboard, wakeboard, etc. We also love swimming, volleyball, rag ball, etc. Just sporty people!! Our faith is very important. I have a strong relationship with God and sing in the praise band at church. I was awarded First Year Teacher of the Year in 05-06 and was honestly astounded :) Smiles!! I love teaching and I love children, they are the most "real" people you will meet! I am excited about finishing the grad program!! It is going to be great to finally have some "me" time again!

Hi! I teach 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies in Lincoln County and North Lincoln Middle School. This is my third year there, and I really enjoy working at that school. Before I taught in Lincoln County, I spent my first three years teaching 6th grade at Alexander Middle in Charlotte. I'm originally from Richmond, Virginia but moved here after college (which was a six years ago - crazy!). This semester is my next to last semester in grad school, so most of my free time in the last year or so has been taken up with paper-writing, reading, etc.!

My name is Heather Travis. I am in my 8th year of teaching 4th grade at Taylorsville Elementary. I absolutely love 4th graders and the content I teach minus the stress of EOG's and the writing test. I married my best friend in July of 2007. We moved into our new house this past summer. In 2005 I obtained National Board Certification. Grad school has been on my mind for some time so this is the goal I am working towards now. This fall I began grad school. My goal is to finish the program in two years so my husband and I can start a family. Family is very important to me. My grandmother is my hero! I love to read, and just wish I had more free time to do so. God and church is very important to me as well. He has blessed me beyond measure. I look forward to sharing "My bag" in class.

Hello, My name is Janet Gross. I teach first grade at Love Memorial Elementary School in Lincolnton. I have been there for 18 years and have taught K and 1st the entire time. My husband and I have been married for three and a half years. I have 2 boys from my first marriage, only they are not boys now! They are 24 and 26 years old! Well, I guess you know that makes me old too! Anyway, I am having a great time meeting new people and learning new things in the Master's program. This is my second semester. I spend most of my time during the school year working on lessons and taking care of my mom. In the summer my husband and I travel. We went to Ireland 2 summers ago. It was fabulous! I guess this summer I will be in summer school. There are so many opportunities that I am truly grateful for and I am blessed by God every day.

I am currently a 4th grade teacher at Norris Childers in Lincolnton, NC. I have been teaching for three years now. I taught 2nd grade my first year and 1st grade my second year. These were all due to position cuts and changes within the school. There is definitely something special about every grade. I don't exactly know what grade or where I will be teaching next year; I will be moving to western NC. I feel like such a traitor because I've been taking classes from App since 2001. However, I do love the mountains and am very excited about the move. Josh, my fiance, is from Franklin, NC. We became college sweethearts at Appalachian in the summer of 2004. He currently owns NAPA Autoparts stores in different areas of Western NC. Therefore it is a necessity that we move. Our current prospectives for places to live are Haywood County or Jackson County. I'm leaning toward the Waynesville, NC area in Haywood County. I am loving the wedding planning but starting to get concerned about the stress that my future forsees. Next semester (1st summer session) will be my final class. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm anxious. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn so much in graduate school. It has definitely been worth the money and the time.

Hi, all,
I'm Annie Croon. We've recently moved to NC from Long Island. We really liked the snow up North, but not the long, long winters. Happy to be watching the snowfall just outside my window. Just a little of the white stuff, thank you!
I am working as a Literacy Specialist at Gamewell Elementary. Our literacy team is working hard to institute a centers approach to a well balanced literacy curriculum. We see 7-8 classes from grades k-5 throughout the day, and then I teach a 4th grade Language! class at the end of the day. Needless to say, the day goes by very quickly.
I'm married to this wonderful guy for 25 years this past December; been together for 31. We have two good kids, a daughter at CCCTI and a son at CCCMC in Hudson. We are very blessed and happy to be exactly where we are. The people in this area are friendly and genuine.
Class was interesting...I am formulating my graphic novel cover. Still trying to get a book club choice together - there are so many good choices out there. I look forward to finding out more about each of you by what you choose to include in your bag.
I'm kind of new to blogging, so I'll keep it short 'til I've something important to say. Really looking for some good strategies to get reluctant readers into good fit books.
See you soon!

I teach third graders at Hiddenite Elementary School in Alexander County. This is my first year teaching third graders. I taught fourth graders for seven years and second graders for eight, all at Hiddenite. I have been married to Darrin for 16 years. We spent the morning playing in the snow with Mackenzie, our five year old daughter. She had great fun sledding, making snow angels, and throwing snowballs! This is my second year in ASU's graduate program. I have thoroughly enjoyed all I have learned and the opportunity to use new strategies and ideas with my students. I look forward to meeting everyone in class on Monday.
Have a wonderful week!

Hello Everyone! My name is Donielle and I have been teaching four years at Drexel Primary School in Burke County. It is the only K-2 school in our county. I have taught ELL for the last 3 of those years and absolutely love it! My students bring me such joy as they face the hardships of overcoming language barriers in order to learn and be successful in our English speaking schools. I learn more from them than I can ever begin to teach them! On a personal note (I have almost forgotten what that is between school, classes, and homework), I have a wonderful husband, a three-year-old, a seven-year-old, and a new beagle puppy (thanks to Santa!). Life is pretty chaotic and we recently just moved into our new house that we have been building for almost a year now (so let me add to that list, "unpacking")! I am almost half-way through the Master's program and I have enjoyed meeting new people and learning so much new "stuff" to take back to my students. I am looking forward to another great semester!

My name is Hanna Hildebran. I am currently a 2nd grade teacher at Startown Elementary School. Startown is very special to me because I went there as a child. It's strange going to work with people who taught you! I am glad to be back into the swing of things with graduate school. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it!

I am a second grade teacher at Central Elementary which is a part of Iredell-Statesville Schools. This is my fourth year teaching at Central. I taught second grade for a year, moved to third grade for two years and am now back to teaching 2nd grade. I have 24 students who keep me on my toes each day! I am excited my grade level has decided to start leveled reading groups where we will be using a modified lesson plan from what we used in clinic. I am a little nervous about how it will work but eager for the opportunity to try.

I am almost finished with the program and only have one class after this semester. I am excited to graduate and have loved being able to learn and apply all kinds of new things.

I am originally from Michigan and greatly miss my family back home. I am glad I have an old friend that I used to work with at a bank down here that has helped me to feel like Statesville is my home away from home. I love footbal and watching sports and which I could find somewhere to play soccer locally.

I am a second grade teacher at Rutherford College Elementary School in Burke County. I never thought that I would be living and teaching here, but that’s where I’ve ended up. I started working on my Masters in Reading through ASU in the spring of my second year of teaching.
Let's see. . . . My parents live in Florence, South Carolina where my father runs a heating and air business and my mother is an educational therapist.
My only brother (who is younger by 18 months) and his wife live in Durham where he is in law school and she is working on her Masters in Nutrition or Dietary something or other.
I spend most of my time on things related to my job, but I hope as I become more experienced, I’ll have more time for other things. I am interested in photography and outdoor activities. Recently my boyfriend Andrew and I have been playing a lot of tennis. We’re getting better at it.
While I do spend most of my time teaching or thinking about teaching, I try to spend some time doing things that don’t have to do with school. While I’m not so good finding time to do this, when I do, I really enjoy it.
The one thing that definitely takes up a lot of my time, no matter what, is spending time with my boyfriend Andrew. We’ve known each other for eight years and have been dating for seven. Right now, he’s looking for a job. His degree is in environmental studies and outdoor education. He has a certificate in GIS and wants to work in that field.
When we do things together, we like to spend time outside. We love to go hiking, biking, swimming, rock climbing or just driving out in the open. In this picture, we’re pictured at a swimming hole Andrew found off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The other man in my life is my cat, Tucker. He spends most of time making me jealous of how cozy and comfortable he is.
Likes:
kids, photography, music, candles, flowers, pedicures, shopping, good tv shows, talking to friends, good food, beautiful pictures, good recipes, drawing, painting, reading, singing, tennis, hiking, backpacking, camping, riding my bike, having a clean house, a new haircut, sunrise, sunset, beaches, mountains . . . the list goes on.
Dislikes:
stress, disorder, clutter, being confused, feeling inadequate, comparing myself to others (even though I am constantly doing that), being late, moving away from friends, losing touch with people, dealing with family drama, he said she said, negative mindsets