Welcome! I guess I will add “doorman” to my job description. A reader recently commented that not only am I building bridges…I am “opening doors.”

THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY BEING REVAMPED TO REFLECT MY NEW DIRECTION.

Here is what you’ll find in each of the categories on the right-hand side of my homepage:

(Worth A 1000 Words)

• My entries in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.  Like any proud mom, I love taking pictures of my kids. My goal is to find photos of my children for each week’s theme.

Awards

• My “Hall of Fame” of sorts…You will find links to other blogs I find worthwhile as well.

Easy Ideas

• These posts mostly pertain to cheap and/or easy ideas for in your classroom. These ideas require little preparation, low-cost or found materials, and some of those “Well, why didn’t I think of that?” ideas.

Graphic Organizers

• As an intervention specialist and a visual learner, I am a huge fan of graphic organizers.  These posts contain free downloads (mostly PDFs and some Word files). Please use these as you see fit in your classroom!

Life as an Intervention Specialist

• My certificate is LD/DH K-12 and after 16 years as an intervention specialist, I’ve accumulated a lot of great stories and lots of tips.  Some of these posts will be strategy; others will simply be sweet stories about my experiences in the world of special education.

Life Lessons

• The world is your classroom and there are lessons to be learned everyday. This is my place to just be the writer I always wanted to be. Here you will find a collection of stories, poems, and pictures which may, or may not, be about school. My two awesome kids, our cat, my friends and family will be featured in many of these posts.

Sharing is Good

• I create new materials almost every day and I am constantly searching for new resources online. What a waste to not share with others! All the posts with graphic organizers will be here, as well as any other handouts, worksheets, and instructional materials.  Please feel free to use these materials in your classroom. If you do, let me know how they worked (or didn’t) for you.

SMARTBoard 

• I haven’t figured out a way to attach actual SMARTBoard files to posts. So, for now, I will post about different tools and activities for the SMARTBoard and insert screen shots when possible.  If you see something you would like to have the SMART file for, drop me a note and I can email it to you.

Teaching (Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies)

• As an intervention teacher, I do accommodations and modifications for all subject areas.  I teach my own Language Arts Resource Room and do inclusion for the other subjects.  These ideas are geared for middle school but can be modified for other grade levels.

Technology 

• Our building is piloting BYOT this year and we are just learning what works and doesn’t work.  Other technology topics include: SMARTBoard, response systems, media, music, etc.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• This theory is based on ways to reach all students through goals, methods, materials, and assessments. Sometimes when teachers think of accommodations and modifications for special education students, they don’t realize the potential these methods have for the general education population as well.

Come on in.

Look around.

Stay awhile.

I hope you find everything you are looking for and more.