Here is a roster of curricular and extra-curricular projects I have been involved in lately:
2010-2011

• Beginning in August, I will write two weekly posts on the HOPE Foundation Blog (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) – a non-profit whose Honorary Chair is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. HOPE helps to develop high-performing leadership teams and school cultures.  The blog is intended to stimulate thought and conversation about what is going well in public schools and what can be improved.  Since writing has been a gift and public education has become a passion, this seems like a good fit.
  

2009-2010

• Our class collected gloves/hats, games, books, and school supplies, respectively, each month January through June.  We donated these to The Village Summit, a community center in the works, created by a Lansing school teacher, Mr. Marcus Brown.  
• In May a group of students, parents, and both teachers on our team spent a Saturday cleaning and building as a service-learning project at the Village Summit.  Click here to view the news coverage.
• Partnered with Math Curriculum Director to write district-wide, grade-level math assessments 
• Appointed by Superintendent to serve on the interview committee for Holt Public Schools' new Executive Director of Curriculum and Professional Development 
• With a teaching partner, I researched the benefits of and we are implementing a team-teaching, multi-age classroom conjoining third/fourth grades for a dynamic literacy block! 
• Launched yearlong effort to promote positive thinking within a district, called the Electronic Snowball.  My goal is to look for the positive in schools, staffs, children and the teaching profession, frequently enough to share one email a week with my staff and PLC members across the district.  The snowball effect is to encourage others to think notice the sunshine among the gloom and doom of our state's economy and public education policy.  It takes 21 days to form a habit.  My hope is that if I can sustain the finding and sharing of optimism for an entire school year, it will become an infectious lifestyle!
• I began graduate study in the K-12 Administration program at Michigan State University.
  

2008-2009

• A pen pal project with a French-speaking class in Quebec, Canada who our class met online while researching Native American birchbark canoes.  Their teacher makes these canoes and the relationship sprang from that discussion between teachers.  Each child had a pen-pal and exchanged letters many times during the year.
• An email that was forwarded to me prompted our class involvment in a book drive for a small village in Lesotho, South Africa.  The results were heart-touching.   Check out the video about this project!
• Tired of absent collaboration, I launched and am leading a monthly, cross-district, grade-level Professional Learning Community called the Open Door PLC.  Inspired teachers share successes, ideas and have been collaborating on a year-long curriculum map to integrate subjects.
• After working with lower-elementary teachers on the reading buddy program, I wrote a grant and developed a podcasting reading program for first-grade students' fluency improvement.  We are recording books from our school bookroom for digital listening centers to complement guided reading in those rooms.  Fourth grade students help younger students learn the technology.

2007-2008

• Needing a challenge for my high readers, I created a 4th Grade Reading Buddy program to enhance reading practice of younger students where older kids can listen, read to, and tutor new readers.
• I am a proud member of our school and district FINO (Failure Is Not an Option) school improvement teams where we are changing the culture and direction of teacher professional development.
• Out of curiosity, I accepted appointment as MEA-RA Delegate for 2008-2010 school years, to fully understand the union role in my life as an educator.

Below are samples of lessons I wrote and taught in various grade levels and settings during student teaching.  The variety of lesson plans reflect the multiple planning and organizational styles I have tested.   Currently, I plan lessons firmly based on Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations, using district-provided curriculum tools that I enhance to my own style and my kids' needs.
  
3rd Grade, Reading Lesson - A concept/comprehension activity based on familiar text

5th Grade, Writing Lesson - Incorporates writing, character ed, technology and music
Click Here To See A Video Clip Of This Lesson (allow a few minutes for buffering...it's worth the wait)

5th Grade, Science Lesson - A group activity exploring motion of objects

6th Grade, Science Lessons - Two lessons from a unit on the water cycle written using the 5-E model

I am very interested in curriculum mapping to create the most logical and beneficial learning experiences.  Below is a sample curriculum map I've created based on the 7th Grade Frameworks as interpreted by Perry Public Schools in Perry, Michigan.