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Hi!
My name is Candace and I am from Kentwood, MI, but have lived in
the Kalamazoo area for the past 10
years. I graduated from East Kentwood High School in 1996 and attended
GRCC for my first semester of college. After visiting friends and the
campus of Western Michigan University, I decided to transfer
to WMU and move to Kalamazoo.
I fell in love with this city and area- especially the lakes and could
never dream of leaving it now! In Dec. 2001, I graduated from WMU
with my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and was hired a few
months later by KPS. I have continued to take classes here and there
through Western, but just recently decided to "buckle down" and
pursue my Masters of Arts in Educational Technology.
I have been teaching for
the past 5 years in the Kalamazoo Public School District. I have taught grades 4th and 5th,
but for the past two years, have been at Spring Valley Elementary in a 6th
grade classroom. Spring Valley consists of grades K-6
however; the two 6th grade classes in our building are run
as close to a middle school setting as possible. My teaching partner
and I team teach and cross group to prepare our students for middle school,
dividing up the subjects amongst ourselves and switching students for each
class.
I
feel that I am fairly “tech savvy” but still have so much to
learn. On top of teaching, I have also taken on the TAG
(technologically advanced group) position for our building. Being a
member of this group, I am responsible for not only troubleshooting
PC’s and software, but also lead a building technology committee and
train staff in all areas needed with technology. By enrolling in this
class, I hope to have fun, learn more involving the integration of technology
into the classroom, and pass along any information I may learn to my colleagues.
The
countdown is on until I am officially on summer vacation! Although I
love my students, and feel like they are sometimes my kids, I need a
break. The summer is a great time for
me to rejuvenate myself and prepare for the upcoming school year. This
is my first summer without a part time bartending job to occupy my time, so I
have instead chosen to load myself down with classes that I feel I would
enjoy and use what I learn in my teaching. Besides taking classes, I do
hope to take in a lot of sun, relax on the beach, and practice my golf game
(a new sport for me this year).
“It
isn’t what happens in your life that matters; what matters is how you
handle your life when it happens.”
Click
on this link to access my classroom web page!
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