Meet the Teacher Monday

I'm joining in on Meet the Teacher Monday over at Blog Hoppin'  .  I'm very tired tonight so I'm sorry if my answers seem random confusing!  I am excited to get to know all of you! 

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Tell us a little something about you...

My name is Becky and I am a traveling resource room teacher.  I recently bought a house with my fiance (I say recently but it's been about 9 months!) and adopted 2 kittens.  I love teaching and creating lessons!  That is my passion.  When I'm not doing school related things, I can be found decorating my house and doing crafts but I procrastinate - a lot!  For example, we just finished installing new outlets this weekend.  That was a project we started in November.  Also, I got an iPhone yesterday!!! <3

This is Waffles - One of my new kittens.  

My fiance and I in NYC

How long have you been teaching?

This will be my third year teaching.  Before getting a permanent job, I subbed for half a year.  I am finally feeling like I am not in survival mode anymore!  

You might not know...

that I am currently taking classes towards my masters in Literacy.  I only have 5 classes left including student teaching.  Next week I start my Intro to Special Ed class.  I can't get anyone to waive that class even though my undergrad is in special ed and I'm currently a special ed teacher.  Hopefully it will be an easy semester! 

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

I'm looking forward to feeling on top of things.  The last two years I was in survival mode.  I was a new teacher in two buildings every day.  That means I have 2 principals and 2 totally different sets of expectations.   In the past 2 years I have had 4 principals, 2 superintendents, and lost 15 of the 21 people who were hired with me thanks to budget cuts.  Things have to calm down this year, right??

What do you need to improve?

I continuously look at what I do and try to improve everything.  This year I'd like to work on organization for myself and my students.  NY had a lot of changes this year and I'm now required to keep a lot of data on each student.  Being organized seems to be my ongoing goal in and out of school! 

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

I cannot live without having music in my room.  I don't have it on all the time because I share a room but I love watching the kids work together while listening to music.  They seem to focus better.   I also love reading a to z!  I can pull up books on the smartboard for students to read.  My running record kit and many books in my library are from reading a to z as well.  

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Becky