Msmhobbs04

Hello everyone!! My name is Mary Hobbs. I live in Blackstone with my three sons. I am employed at Nottoway Intermediate School, 5th and 6th grades, as a teacher's assistant working with special education students, among other duties, but this is my main position. My hobbies are spending time with my sons, family members, friends, shopping, and reading.

When I graduated from high school, I had no idea of what I wanted to do. Going to college was the last thing on my mind and I really did not give it that much thought. I did not know what I wanted to major in. My job is the reason I became interested in teaching. As a teacher's assistant I had to be "qualified" for my job, so I started taking the classes and this is where I am now. I have stopped and started, but I am determined to go all the way this time.

I would like to teach either fifth or sixth graders because I have worked with these grades since working in the school system. I would like to teach Language Arts/Reading and/or Social Studies (VA History). My curriculum for Language Arts would focus on reading, vocabulary, and spelling. I would love to teach Social Studies (VA History) just because I love history. If I had to teach math, I could go as high as some algebra, and science just bores me. But when I get into taking the classes for these subjects, my mind could change.

My philosophy of education is that every child that comes to school can learn, even if they don't want to. I believe that if a teacher can find that one topic or subject that catches a student's interest, they would be hooked on learning.

Another philosophy is that I think the teacher should some kind of sense of humor. I would want the students that I teach to know and feel that they will learn in my classroom. I want the students to feel good and upbeat about coming to my class.

Some of the technologies that I would use in my classroom would be the SmartBoard, because it is hands-on, the Jeopardy Game because it would be used to review for tests and bring some fun into the classroom, and computers could be used because of interactive games the students could learn from.

I would use tests and quizzes to assess the students progress or not. Some students learn fast, and some learn slow. I will adjust my teaching methods to accommodate the students. I would not exactly separate the students into groups just modify the classwork.

In closing, I have worked in the school system for nine years and those years, I have come to realize that if I can fill in for a teacher and follow his/her instructions for the class(es), then I can do it for myself. I have come to earn the respect, trust, and confidence of my fellow co-workers and the students.