Not a 5th grade teacher for much longer . . .

I have to share some exciting news! It was just confirmed this week that I will not be teaching 5th grade next year. I LOVE 5th graders, but after six years with this grade level, I knew a change would be good for me professionally. I had expected to move down to primary grades, but instead I will actually be moving up to 6th grade!

Because we currently have three sections of 5th grade, they needed to create a third section in 6th for next year. In addition, ASB is moving forward (slowly, but surely!) with technology integration, readers/writers workshop and eventually instructional coaching. My director knows my background in literacy coaching and I approached him early on this year about really wanting to get back into this - my passion definitely lies in working with both kids and teachers.

So . . . next year I will be teaching "humanities," which is a combination of literacy and social studies, for half the day. I'm SO excited to teach social studies again - it's been years! (And I'm pretty happy to not be teaching math and science. :) The other half of my day will be spent working as a "technology integrator" in grades 4-7, helping teachers integrate technology projects into their lessons.

Although I think I know quite a bit about how to use technology as a demonstration tool (i.e. interactive whiteboards), I have a lot to learn about technology-based programs and software! For the past three years, I have been craving professional development - I miss the learning I was able to do at Crawford so much! I have a feeling that the next six months/year are going to be FULL of learning opportunities for me, which makes me so excited! Between possible technology training, writer's workshop training at ASB in June, and possibly attending the reader's workshop training in NYC this summer, I will certainly be learning a lot.

Needless to say, I'm really excited about this opportunity! Getting to work with teachers and students in a new way, moving back into more of a coaching role, teaching two-three subjects instead of four, and getting to spend another year with many of my fantastic kiddos - how lucky am I?!