Education Goal Statement

Curry College of Education Goal Statement In 2014 I began teaching at Patrick Henry Elementary School in Martinsville, Virginia. It was my second year of teaching and I was eager, “prepared,” and confident. I learned quickly that this was unlike any school in which I had ever taught. Patrick Henry is a predominantly economically disadvantaged school which means, I was not as prepared as I thought. My first year at Patrick Henry was challenging and there were many bumps in the road but, I learned how to navigate them quickly. Teaching at Patrick Henry has been one of the most rewarding things I have done it my life. By obtaining my Maters in Curriculum and Instruction I hope to give back to a school community that I have learned so much from. I graduated from Appalachian State University in 2011 with a degree in Elementary Education still undecided if I chose the correct career path for me. I started my career as a nanny, moved
In 2016 I was appointed as the first grade team leader. In this role I lead weekly collaborative team meetings as well as weekly data meetings. I helped to implement “Words Their Way” a word study program designed to help student better understand phonics and spelling. I had used this program at my previous school and was glad to have the chance to help my teammates understand the process. Through this program we saw our students spelling and phonics knowledge increase. During weekly data meetings I guided my team to look deeper into their weekly and quarterly data. Through this process we noticed that our students struggled with certain concepts such as questioning, understanding main idea, skip counting, addition and subtraction. We used this information to help guide our whole and small group