Why and how I become a teacher

When I began college, I thought I wanted to go into business and become an accountant. I had a terrible time getting into any business classes as a freshman, so I decided to fulfill some general education classes. I enrolled in a child development course that required 10 hours of observation in the campus preschool. I found myself staying longer than my required time because I loved it so much. I realized then that I could work with kids as a teacher and be happy. In addition, my mom is a teacher, although she didn't teach while I was growing up. I was aware that she had been a teacher before she started a family.

My professional history

I began my teaching career with a second-grade teaching internship in Santaquin, Utah. Prior to that, I had done a full year of pre-service teaching. During my pre-service teaching, I spent 14 week each in a first-, third-, and fifth-grade classroom.

Now, I teach at Ponderosa Elementary in Sunnyvale, CA, where I've entered my seventh year of teaching second grade. During these seven years, I've been involved with the Noyce Foundation's professional development programs, including the ECRW project. While working on writing workshop with the Noyce Foundation, I served as a demonstration teacher for my school site and district for one year and an Exemplar Teacher for the initiative for 3 years. I have also worked with two safety net programs, Project HELP and Soaring to Success, for three and two years, respectively.

Why and how I began to focus on writing

During my first teaching year at Ponderosa, my school site was beginning its involvement with Noyce and the ECRW project. Soon, Writing Workshop simply became part of the "Ponderosa Way." I feel fortunate to have joined the school at a time when writing-related conversation and training was available.

My history as a writer - strengths and struggles

Honestly, I never (and still don't) consider myself to be a great writer. I was never taught genre or writing until high school. In elementary school I had short creative writing assignments, but my teachers typically provided story starters. You know, the ones that would start, "One day you were walking home from school and as you passed this big bush, out jumped...." We were expected to finish the story. I never felt like I did those well.

Now, I feel like I have a good understanding of what makes a strong piece of writing, but making my own writing fit that category is a struggle for me. I can envision the final product in my mind, but the process of making my writing on paper match my thoughts remains a struggle.

A few favorite writers

I have many favorite writers. I love to read, more so than I love to write! Recently, I've been enchanted by Cornelia Funke's books Inkheart and Inkspell. I also love Andrew Clements, Barbara Park, E.B. White, and many more.

For my students, I'm fond of the following picture-book authors: Donald Crews, Cynthia Rylant, Gail Gibbons, and Gary Soto.

^ close

My writing curriculum resources

I have used many, many different resources for my writing curriculum. For seven years, I've participated in the Noyce Foundation's professional development - my most important resource. I've attended many Noyce-sponsored professional development opportunities - from Summer Institutes to Saturday speakers. In addition, a Noyce writing coach has worked at my school site for each of the 7 years of our involvement. I've also drawn from ECRW-published materials such as units, standards, and resources lists.

My reading curriculum resources

My district has adopted reading materials published by Harcourt Brace, which I use. I've also used ideas from Lucy Calkins' book, The Art of Teaching Reading. I've begun reading Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom, by Lucy Calkins and Kathy Collins. I've heard great things about Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades by Debbie Miller, which I hope to read soon.

Becky's 2005-6 SARC

Standards that guide my literacy instruction

My school has used the writing standards outlined by the Noyce Foundation and the ECRW initiative, and the district has adopted those standards as well. For reading instruction, I use the district standards.

My curriculum context

Our district is somewhat flexible regarding the resources we use for literacy instruction, but Harcourt Brace is the adopted series we have on site. We are expected to follow a workshop model for both reading and writing. The district also expects us to teach a separate thirty-minute skills block.

When the Noyce Foundation first began the ECRW project, it selected Ponderosa Elementary as an Exemplar School. This meant that all Ponderosa classrooms needed to implement Writing Workshop. Noyce staff members visited each classroom to observe the Writing Workshop model in action. My school also began this project with the support of two amazing writing coaches who conducted a lot of professional development and modeling with us.

School Accountability Report Card (SARC)

^close

My class profile

I have a variety of students in my class. For the first time, I have a greater number of girls than boys in my class: 10 girls and 9 boys. Some of the children have affluent backgrounds and some are eligible for free or reduced lunch. My students' families come from many countries around the world, including Mexico, India, China, Japan, and Vietnam. Eight of my students are English Language Learners (ELLs), Level 0 and up.

While some of my current ELL students may have achieved full proficiency with English since the time of their first-grade assessment, our district will designate their new levels next year, once their third-grade STAR test results are determined.

^close