Professional Portfolio

Throughout my experience as an elementary school educator, teaching reading and writing has been at the forefront of my expertise and professional development. I developed a strong interest in literacy, especially as it relates to emergent readers and writers as a new teacher of kindergarteners. I had a love for books and words that I wanted to spark in the young minds of the learners I served. Over the years, I have endeavored to constantly improve my practice through focused training, professional book study, collaborative learning projects with peer teachers, attending literacy-related conferences, and self-reflection on data and goals for student success. As a teacher of young children, I have employed a variety of instructional approaches and practices to meet the needs of my diverse learners, including small group instruction, provocation stations and centers, modeling, guided practice, shared learning experiences, and direct instruction. I utilize a multi-faceted Language Arts program that includes systematic phonics, targeted phonological awareness instruction, comprehension instruction and emergent analysis of texts, small group reading, and emergent process writing.

My tenure in Southern California has provided many opportunities to teach students of various cultural and language backgrounds, including non-English speakers. These experiences have enabled me to develop the knowledge and strategies necessary to bridge language barriers and teach in a linguistically and culturally diverse classroom environment. In addition, I have had Special Education students mainstreamed into my classroom to meet inclusion goals. In order to support diverse learners who contend with discrepancies between their instructional and independent levels, I adapt lesson delivery and modify student work to promote independence and success. I integrate a wide variety of scaffolding which includes the use of sentence frames, modeling, vocabulary development, music and movement, visual and digital media, and I rely heavily on small group instruction to support learning to ensure access to the curriculum. I strive to create a classroom community in which all attempts and steps in learning are celebrated and valued in order to compel students to constantly strive for new milestones, both linguistically and academically.

I am a student of the dramatic arts and dance, as well as a lover of music. Additionally, I am a teacher at Visual and Performing Arts Magnet school. I believe that integration of the arts into the academic curriculum provides diverse learners with opportunities to construct and demonstrate their knowledge through and with artistic input and expression. Educational opportunities that extend beyond the textbook are vital for reaching a diverse population of learners. Students have opportunities to see information presented in a variety of ways which scaffolds the mastery of standards and allows children to choose modes of communication that best support and interest them. Arts integration is uniquely critical for English Learners and the youngest learners since their knowledge of reading and writing as communication is likely to be emergent. I utilize a broad scope of arts techniques that leverage the strengths of each child's inherent intelligence including dramatic play, active retelling, Picturing Writing, drawing and painting, movement and dance, and rhythm & music.

Regardless of age, students more readily learn when a sense of trust, calm, and acceptance permeates the classroom. I strive to cultivate a student-centered learning environment in which children are safe, valued as contributing members of the community, and nurtured. Learners are explicitly taught social and emotional competencies including cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control alongside academic competencies. Building relationships with and between students is a key component in developing collaborative learning and solutions to academic and social problems. To foster social and emotional learning, I utilize Zones of Regulation to provide students with language and strategies for identifying and dealing with feelings that may disrupt their learning or the learning of others. Class meetings are also a regular part of the school day to celebrate, share, reflect, and problem solve. Quiet time in the form of Total and Perfect Silence (TAPS) and Energizers are routinely used to manage classroom energy and keep learners focused and engaged throughout the school day.

Over the years, I have worked to cultivate relationships with not only the students who enter the doors of my classroom, but with their families, as well. I believe that classrooms are made all the more vibrant and productive when parents, and even grandparents, enter into the learning space and become an active part in the life of the classroom and vital learning that occurs there each day. Parents who volunteer develop a deep awareness of the academic and social-emotional needs of their children and develop a vested interest in their success. Through volunteering, parents naturally acquire skills and strategies for assist their children with development and learning at home and develop networks of support with other volunteering families. Often times, these relationships nurtured within my classroom will blossom into years of school support from family members who go on to serve with the Parent Teacher Organization, volunteer at school events, apply for positions as yard supervisors, and continue to serve as classroom volunteers for other teachers. Volunteer family members have opportunities to lead art activities and stations, provide extra support for students in the classroom, and share in the joy that comes from being part of a learning community.