Kelly from Teaching Fourth!

Welcome to Kelly from Teaching Fourth. This was actually one of the first blogs I started following. Kelly is SO amazing! Enjoy!

I am very excited and honored that Tina asked me to be a guest blogger this week!  I have only been blogging for about 10 months.  I think that I really started for the challenge.  For the past couple of years I have enjoyed reading many of the wonderful teaching blogs.  Amy Lemon's blog, Step Into Second Grade was the blog that got me hooked.  Even though I teach fourth, I love reading about her creative ideas.  Throughout the entire school year last year, I thought about blogging, but I didn't even know where to begin.  I decided to wait until the summer when I would have time to read and research about how to get started.  I even bought the book, Blogging for Dummies.  I honestly just felt successful that I was able to accomplish making my blog look pretty.  I never thought of anyone actually following my blog.  I think I just looked at it as a personal goal.  I have enjoyed blogging this year and hope to continue to be able to think of new ideas to share on my blog.

I teach in a small, rural town in Alabama, and  I actually teach at the school the I attended and graduated from.  Needless to say, my school holds a special place in my heart.

This is my 23rd year teaching, and I have seen many changes over the years.  I think one of the biggest changes that I have seen over the years is technology.  When I first began teaching, we didn't even have a computer in the classrooms.  Now, I don't know what I would do without my Smartboard, projector, and Elmo.  I have also seen education trends come and go, but I try to remember the advice that a good friend of mine gave me the year I began teaching. (She, by the way, is an excellent teacher!)  Of course, I was new and I was wanting to try new and different things in my classroom. I was feeling nervous about trying.  My friend told me to  remember that the children were going to learn no matter how I taught.  In other words, there is no one size fits all when it comes to children or to teachers, for that matter.  A good teacher is going to get in there and teach.  When that idea or strategy doesn't work, and chances are, there will be things that won't, then you make adjustments and teach again, you help that group of students again, or help that one child the best you can.    I try to remember this when I feel that I am being pushed to fit a mold. 

I have taught sixth, fifth, and fourth grades. We have been departmentalized for so many years now, I can't remember how many.  I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.  It is wonderful!  I teach reading to my homeroom, and language arts/writing to the other 3 homerooms.

 I love the wonderful group of ladies that I teach with.  They are such a blessing.  Four and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with Stage II Triple Negative Breast Cancer (a very aggressive form of breast cancer).  My teaching friends were so wonderful to me that year and helped me in so many ways.  They even literally moved my classroom for me.  That year, the entire fourth grade had to move to another part of the building in the middle of the year.  It was during the time I was going through chemo.  I was not at school much, and when I was, I had no strength to move anything.  They moved not only their own classrooms, but mine as well.  They set it up so that when I came back, I was able to find everything.  They are wonderful. Also, through many answered prayers,  I have been very blessed to have been cancer free ever since.

Thank you so much, Tina, for asking me to be a guest on your blog, and thank you for reading!  I'd love for you to visit and follow my blog, Teaching Fourth,  my TpT store, and my Pinterest boards! 

Be blessed!