Welcome! I am so glad you are here. Grab a cup of coffee and get cozy! I am so excited to go on this journey with you and look forward to sharing ideas and resources to help you along your teaching journey.
I am currently teaching kindergarten in Michigan. I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in special education with a focus in learning disabilities and language arts. I just finished grad school (phew) and have my master’s degree in special education with an ASD endorsement. What a a mouthful!
I come from a family of attorneys who raised four teachers. Of those four kids, I am the last one still in a traditional classroom role.
I began my teaching journey in a small district as an elementary resource room teacher. I absolutely loved working with my kids, but an amazing opportunity opened up, that led me to my current position. I am lucky enough to be teaching in the school where I completed my student teaching internship. I feel so at home here. My mentor teachers are now my best friends and I am so grateful for the amazing community I get to be part of each and every day.
Now, let me be honest. When the kindergarten job opened up I was hesitant. Teaching kindergarten was NOT on my radar. First grade? Sure, but not the littlest ones! This opportunity also came up the week before school was starting. I already had my classroom set up in my current district. Making this move meant leaving coworkers and students that I loved. It meant overhauling an empty classroom, post-renovation in a matter of days and creating a kindergarten wonderland.
I jumped right in, and haven’t looked back once. I was lucky enough to have incredible partners who dropped their own stress and chaos to help me. I had my family and friends coming in for hours on end to create this magical classroom that I get to call my own. My poor husband hung up the alphabet letters, the table names, decorative lanterns, and built our classroom play kitchen. My dad came to help me build bookshelves as we were dripping in sweat. We all know the AC isn’t on until PD officially begins.
With all that, I am loving teaching kindergarten and I feel so at home. The amount of growth that we are able to see in just one school year is truly incredible. We as teachers take in these little babies and turn them into first graders. When we take a moment to reflect on this incredible thing that we get to do, the small challenges disappear.
I can’t wait to share my stories, resources, and of course, a few laughs through this new platform. Thank you so much for being here. I can’t wait to connect.
-Jordan