Welcome Back!

Hello Friends!

Welcome back, it's been awhile since my last posting! What a year. Once more I am doing Experiential Learning under Dr. Kates for English, and adding a Finance Internship Teaching under Dr. Lee. Both of these are being done at Holloway High School in Murfreesboro, and it is an experience that I am enjoying a great deal. Holloway is a Choice School for at risk students, class sizes range from 4 to 28 depending on the subject, and all the students WANT to be there. They have to apply for admittance, and it is a last chance for some of them due to problems they have had in the past. I work with Mrs. Williams for English (and some Spanish!) and Mrs. Supakan for Personal Finance. There are only 4 class periods per school day, set as blocks, and I work with 4th block with each teacher. Mrs. Williams is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, while Mrs. Supakan is Mondays and Fridays. The principle, Mr. Brickman, has given the okay for me to take over the personal finance for Mrs. Supakan when she goes on Maternity leave, and at that point I will move to second block English.

English is English 3, with the students graduating in May. We began the semester with TCAP writing assessments looming, and as I enjoy writing persuasive papers, Mrs. Williams gave me the opportunity and freedom to teach this area for preparation.
We began with 6 students, but are now down to 4 due to 2 transfers back to traditional schools. I had the responsibility to teach the class the format of a short paper (introduction/thesis paragraph, 3 point paragraphs to support the thesis, and conclusion), assign timed writing topics, edit and grade the assignments, and review common mistake areas, with Mrs. Williams checking my evaluations and accepting or adjusting the grades with discussion with me as to why. She also allowed me to teach the Star Spangled Banner lesson (abbreviated) for one of the topics (you will find this lesson plan at www.mtsu.edu/~mforman). We do not know what the TCAP results are yet, but the students worked hard and showed a great deal of progress. Currently they are studying , and we have been battling the snow day closures.

Mrs. Supakan's Foundations in Personal Finance class is 16 students, grades 10 and 11 combined. She has allowed me to teach some of the classes to ensure that I will be prepared to step in, and I observe her style as well. Additionally, she allows me to set up visits from outside experts in the various fields that the students will be studying. This is exciting for me, as it is the Dave Ramsey curriculum, and I have already been able to schedule a visit from one of his vice presidents, Barry Hardy, for this Friday! Also, I have my local insurance agent and Paul Winkler of Paul Winkler Investments ready and willing to visit soon!

More soon, have to get to campus for class!