School by Danette

I began my educational experiences in high school when I worked with a latch-key program. When I first graduated from college, I was the director of a Head Start and a Migrant Head Start program in northern Illinois. My first public school teaching position was as a seventh grade Language Arts teacher. I took a year off to begin my family but felt a draw back to school. At this point my family had moved to Michigan. I was offered a position as a Reading Specialist at a 5-8 middle school. After a few years, I transferred to an eighth grade classroom and am now in a sixth grade classroom at the school. I feel all of my experiences have made me the teacher I am today, and I think of my job not as a job, but as my ministry.

I love kids! Anything that I can do to help my students learn more is something I look into and try to utilize. I actively use Thinking Maps, 6 + 1 Traits, and a collage of my own ideas meshed together. I hope you find them as useful as I do.

WGVU Cool Teacher Award (student-nominated award)

Illinois Central College (Associate Degree); Illinois State University (Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education); Concordia College (Masters in Curriculum and Instruction); classes from Central Michigan University; classes from Ferris State University, including becoming a Fellow of the National Writing Project in 2008; classes from Grand Valley State University;

I am a lifelong learner!