About+Me

Mrs. Spears' 10th Grade English Language Arts

About Me: [[image:IMG_0469.JPG width="240" height="180" align="right"]]

 * I have lived in the Birmingham area for over 40 years.
 * I am happily married and close to my 5 nephews.
 * I earned a B.A. in English and a M.A. in Education from UAB.
 * I enjoy gardening, cooking, water skiing, swimming, fishing, reading, and watching movies.
 * My guilty pleasures include watching [|Ghost Hunters]and all other paranormal shows that I can find on television.


 * About My Teaching Philosophy: **
 * I  am committed to help students develop their reading, writing, and communication skills. Proficiency in these basic skills is the symbolic gatekeeper for success not only in the classroom, but in the job market and larger society.
 * I believe that English Language Arts should focus on literature as its content, and develop grammar, writing, analytical, and oral skills within this context. I will lead students in an examination of the historical background and social relevance of texts, including non-traditional works such as television footage, laws and statutes, pamphlets, websites, and popular magazines.
 * I will find avenues of relevance in the students’ lives with which to link the content knowledge. I will search for ways to hook their interests and bring the knowledge to them. When students can see themselves and/or aspects of their world illuminated in great literature, they become truly receptive to larger ideals about social responsibility and the consequences of an apathetic worldview so common in today’s self-absorbed society.
 * I will cast a wide net of strategies to engage all types of learners. I am a strong proponent of Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT in the Classroom, inquiry based and project-based learning, as well as collaborative education.
 * Students’ success rate and motivation to learn increases by providing them with an array of learning strategies and pedagogical situations; learning, like life, is not one-size-fits-all.
 * Because students learn well when they teach each other, I am committed to collaborative learning strategies, such as Jigsawing, Think-Pair-Share, Peer-Critiques, and group projects.
 * I intend to keep learning fresh and exciting by employing a variety of strategies and offering students some choice in their assignments. Students will be more likely to take ownership of their education by having a voice in their instruction.

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