I am thrilled to be starting my ninth year at East Elementary School. Fifth grade is an extremely exciting year filled with lots of new activities, projects, and opportunities to learn in fun and challenging ways. Although I began my professional career in the banking industry, I soon realized that my strengths were best suited for working with elementary school children in the classroom. I grew up in Easton, Massachusetts and attended Boston College for both my undergraduate and graduate education. After receiving my B.A. in Economics and Communications in 2006, I returned in 2010 to earn a Master’s in Elementary Education.
I am committed to continuing to learn and develop my knowledge of teaching through professional development, academic literature, and course work. As a firm believer in every child’s ability to succeed in the classroom, I look forward to getting to know your child over the course of the year so as to best serve his or her strengths and needs.
In this classroom, learning will focus on developing the big ideas, which build on prior knowledge and connect to related principles. Students will discuss methods, strategies, and patterns as a class to improve logical thinking and communication skills. Various expressions of ideas during this discussion will provide the class with multiple ways to represent the material. During this time, students will use supplementary material and technology to build conceptual understanding of the content through various resources and learning experiences.
All of these ideals contribute to an environment of student-focused lessons in a safe, productive, and engaging environment. Setting a positive tone where students are encouraged to share their ideas, ask questions, and feel in control of their learning is crucial to the ability to gain a true sense of the material presented beyond the processes involved in merely attaining the desired answer. Learning through discovery and inquiry with the support of the teacher and rich resources will ultimately lead to a deeper level of appreciation and sense of how and why what we do in class relates to the world in which we live.