Standards

We each come into teaching with our own set of expectations.  Mine started out first with thinking that I was going to teach high school English.  It is a passion of mine and I am an avid reader (when I can find the time) and a writer (again, when there is time).  In my time in college, I quickly had to get settled in the world of education because I was in a serious relationship with an actor and knew that one of us had to make the real money.  So I began to sub.  And as luck would have it, I fell in love with elementary school.

Elementary school brings its own set of needs.  I had no idea walking into the world of education that I was choosing to become educator, mentor, babysitter, nurse, counselor, referee, a moving target, and an emotional punching bag.

In my first year of teaching I worked in fourth grade, but only taught reading, writing, and science.  It gave me time to become very familiar with what I would be held accountable for when it came to the SOLs.  The next year, my principals changed our scheduling and I was then responsible for ALL subjects.  So I had to learn all the math and social studies standards while my students were learning them too.

This year, with an almost two year old, I am now teaching fifth grade at a new school, on a new team.  So of course, all the material and standards are changed.  I am doing my best to keep up, but sometimes it can be a real struggle.

Now that I am working on becoming a librarian, I am now looking into standards that I never thought that I would have to learn about......HIGH SCHOOL.  In elementary, I know what each grade teaches in terms of social studies and science.  In reading, we all focus on the comprehension of fiction and nonfiction.  We typically integrate our social studies or science material into our language arts time because truly there is not enough time in the day to cover everything.

Now I am in the trenches again, trying to figure out the standards that relate to high schoolers.  What they are studying is not too far off from what I learned when I was in high school, not too long ago.  Yet, the amount of teacher and librarian collaboration has definitely increased.

Anyone who thinks that a librarian in a school is not a teacher is quite ignorant.  They have to know more standards than most classroom teachers.

It's that time again

It's always that time I feel like.  Time to introduce myself to a new group of people while here in the real world I am struggling to make it through with the group of 24 that I have been gifted with this year.

SOLs are upon us and my crazy new home owner, 13 week pregnant, already a full time mommy brain says "Yes, let's take on more responsibility!"  But that's always been the way it is with me.

My name is Heather and my mother says that I have an issue with keeping my hands still.  Productive ADHD I guess you would call it.  25 years old, already married with a child, another one on the way.  Graduated college in three years, completed my Masters by 22 and now I am ready to take on another challenge: the library.

I was born and raised and still work in Fairfax County, Virginia.  I am a die-hard Redskins fan since before I was even born and I love to quilt.  After a crazy and I do mean crazy year back to teaching after taking maternity leave, I am ready for this summer!

There is still so much to do, so much to learn, so much to READ, so much time to spend with my daughter who turns 2 this summer, and to prepare for #2 this Thanksgiving.