My professional history

I am currently in my second year as a 5th grade teacher at Sunnybrae Elementary in San Mateo, California. My teaching career spans 17 years and includes experience in both public and private elementary, middle, and high schools.

I began my teaching career as a computer instructor in a variety of public and private elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the same time, I began to pursue a multiple subjects teaching credential at San Francisco State University. During my credential program, I worked in private schools as a sixth-grade teacher, math tutor, computer teacher, swim coach, and high school technology coordinator. I completed my student teaching at a public school, Turnbull Learning Academy in San Mateo, California, where I later worked as a 4th/5th grade teacher for five years.

Over the years, I've tried to grow as a teacher in a variety of subject areas. I've participated in the Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative to develop a reading and writing workshop approach to literacy. I have also participated in the Noyce Foundation's Silicon Valley Math Initiative to develop deeper mathematical understandings and stronger problem-solving skills. I'm particularly interested in learning about strategies to help second language learners in all subject areas. I've participated in various trainings in ELD instruction, frontloading, and differentiated instruction. I've also participated in Lesson Study, a collaborative program with other teachers that aims to analyze instruction and improve it. Recently, I've been attending a variety of International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) trainings with a focus on backward mapping and inquiry throughout the science and social studies curriculum.

Since I'd like to pursue leadership opportunities in education, I plan to obtain a Master's Degree in Education as well as an administrative credential in the future.

Why and how I began to focus on writing

I didn't feel confident as a writer throughout my education. When I suddenly found myself in the position of teaching writing, I didn't feel qualified. I started out using traditional and outdated teaching strategies, but I wasn't seeing good results. I didn't enjoy teaching writing, and my students didn't seem to enjoy writing either.

In order to improve my writing instruction, I knew I had to improve my own writing and analyze the struggles that I, and my students, experience as writers. I started by participating in the Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative. Through these trainings, I gained new confidence in my ability to teach writing. I began keeping a writing notebook and writing for pleasure. I experienced the joys and struggles of writing myself, and I realized the value of being a writer right along with my students. In my classroom I developed the writing workshop approach, and I found that both my students and I could enjoy writing and learn how to be better writers together.

I'm most interested in helping my students to become better writers of nonfiction (personal memoirs, research reports, informational articles) and essays (persuasive, literary). I believe these genres will be useful for my students in the future. Given our modern access to data, I believe it's critical for student to be able to absorb large amounts of information and to synthesize it into clear, understandable and unique prose.

My history as a writer - strengths and struggles

Writing is a struggle for me - it takes a lot of revision and editing for me to feel good about my pieces. I remember feeling confident and capable as a writer in elementary and middle school. In high school and college, however, I remember receiving more criticism than praise. At that time, I began to feel unable to develop my ideas - I didn't believe in my voice. Writing was not enjoyable for me. Thanks to my professional development as a teacher, I have once again developed confidence in my writing, and I do more writing for enjoyment than ever before. I've kept a journal off and on for the last 20 years and lately I've been writing memoirs about my family and my teaching.

As for strengths, I feel more confident in writing nonfiction pieces. I believe my writing is simple and straightforward. I'm capable of writing interesting nonfiction that is organized, well-developed, and informative. I also believe I'm good at depicting character development and conveying emotions through personal narratives.

A few favorite writers

For my own reading, my favorite authors are Frank McCourt, Dave Eggers, Andrew Sean Greer, and Michael Chabon. My favorite authors for my students are Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, Katherine Paterson, E. L. Konigsburg, Kate DiCamillo, Patricia Polacco, and Cynthia Rylant. ^ close

The reading workshop includes Community Reading, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. We start each day with Community Reading, a time when I read a book aloud as students follow along. I model fluent reading and effective reading strategies. We also bond as a community of readers when we write and share responses to the literature. In the Guided Reading segment, students read books at their instructional level with me in small groups. During this time, I'm able to focus on specific strategies that will support my students' needs at their current guided reading level. During Independent Reading, students are free to choose books to read. For accountability, they write weekly letters to me in response to their reading. In addition, embedded within the reading workshop is our time for "word work," which includes spelling.

The writing workshop involves 4 to 5-week units of study such as personal narratives, persuasive essays, poetry, informational reports, and narratives. The daily workshop includes three segments: the mini-lesson, independent writing/conferencing, and sharing. These segments are each supplemented by a collection of picture books that we read together as models for our writing.

During the mini-lesson, we gather at the back of the room to review the previous day's lesson and to commence a new lesson. Independent writing and conferencing entails an extended period of time during which my students write independently and I conference with individuals or small groups. To conclude the workshop, we reconvene at the back of the room for the sharing segment. Students have the chance to read a piece of writing to the entire class.

The daily ELD segment involves small group instruction for students with various English Learner levels. While I work with the group of English Learners, other students work independently.

Standards that guide my literacy instruction

My district and my school expect a standards-based Balanced Literacy program that includes Houghton Mifflin's curriculum.

I follow the California State Standards for Language Arts and ELD. I begin my planning by marking standards on my calendar as they correlate to the units of study we've planned for the year.

Next, I decide which resources and books fit well with each unit of study. I plan how I will use those books to address the standards within the unit. Then I develop both summative and formative assessments that will demonstrate my students' mastery of the standards. I also use the ELD standards to help with frontloading lessons. This strategy ensures accessible content for all levels of English Language Learners in my classroom.

My curriculum context

While Sunnybrae Elementary is not an official ECRW school, my principal has been sending her teachers to The Noyce Foundation's writing training for several years. My principal is very supportive of my work with Noyce. She is always willing to pay for me - and my colleagues - to attend trainings and scoring sessions off site. On site, she encourages all teachers to follow the writing workshop approach. She also expects us to score student writing collaboratively and to use this assessment data to drive our writing instruction. I'm grateful for all that my principal has done to make it possible for me to attend Noyce trainings. I've have shared my Noyce-related work with my fifth-grade team partner, who has utilized some of my ideas in her teaching.

My school is not required to use pacing guides yet but a mandate is in the works.

How Noyce's training on significance in narrative writing connects to my classroom footage.

The Noyce Foundation's training on significance helped me learn how to better help my students move toward deeper, more meaningful writing. You'll see examples of how I used new strategies to encourage my students to consider their audience, their writing techniques, and their message in their writing. In the documented instruction, I also use touchstone texts and mentor texts to provide students with examples of narratives that have strong significance. Some of those narratives begin as simple stories but evolve into pieces with strong themes and beautiful language. ^ close

My class profile

This year, I have 29 students - 13 boys and 16 girls. My student ethnicities include Cambodian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino, Latino, and Caucasian. Of my 29 students, 18 speak English only, 6 have been redesignated as Fully English Proficient, and 5 are English Language Learners (ELLs). Two of my ELLs have English Proficiency at Level 2 (Early Intermediate) and 3 have English Proficiency at Level 4 (Early Advanced). Fifteen of my students are eligible for free/reduced lunch.

School Accountability Report Card (SARC) (.pdf)

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