First, let me start by saying that no one ever achieved anything alone and my blog launch simply would not be possible without the support that I’ve received from Cassie Thomas, the creator of Teachers Who Read. Since she stepped foot on our campus, my lessons, philosophy, and the reading community I share with my students has been enriched. Keep reading her stuff about books. It will be a game changer in your classroom.
I fell in love with reading when I was nine years old after a long and winding journey of always feeling like the “slow reader.” I didn’t read my first chapter book until 4th grade, well after most of my peers. In fact, If I hadn’t read Beauty by Bill Wallace cover to cover on the afternoons on my bus rides home, I would have had a completely different path in life. I remember it like it was yesterday: being so captivated and moved by the words that nothing else around me mattered except that horse and that story. At the end, I cried. It was the epiphany of my lifetime. At the young moment in my life, I had a thought that changed everything: “I have to teach people about this powerful stuff called reading.”
My encounter with the pen came later, when emotions bubbled inside me until they eventually erupted on the page. I wrote stories, poems, and even tried my hand at books in elementary and middle school. I never stopped despite the struggles I had compared to the other kids, and by the time I reached high school I had left everyone else in the dust. I graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma from Cambridge University as a senior in high school. I finished my Bachelor’s degree in three years with honors, and finally after nearly a decade of longing to be a teacher, I stepped foot in my own classroom. Now, I’ve been teaching ELAR for 2.5 years at New Braunfels Middle School in Texas.
My long term goal is to have a career in curriculum, so I’m starting graduate school this summer. As part of the graduate portfolio, I will be launching a curriculum blog called One Stop ELA Workshop on April 23rd. The goal of the blog is simple: provide teachers with immediate click-and-go access to engaging and effective lessons that follow the best practices of our profession. Teachers across grade levels will feature their best lessons on the blog including a write up of how the lessons works, pictures of the content and students examples, and digital (and printable) links to the resources for the lesson.
We do not require a subscription. We just want good teaching to be present in our community to support each other and do what’s best for our students. We do accept contributions to support the classroom libraries of teachers who feature their lessons if you’re looking for a way to say thank you to the awesome educators that are making this possible.
Check out @onestopelaworkshop on instagram or visit our blog at www.onestopelaworkshop.com starting April 23rd.
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