Sarah+Fox

I began my college career in January of 2003 at Kalamazoo valley Community College, where I received an associate’s degree for elementary education in 2007. I then enrolled at Western Michigan University to pursue a degree in secondary education. My educational mindset changed as I realized teaching adolescents would be more rewarding.
 * __[[image:Sarah_picking.jpg align="left"]]About Me __**

With a major in Geography and a minor in English, my well balanced education will allow me to teach a wide array of topics. Learning and understanding how to educate children was the most enjoyable aspect of my degree. I am expecting to graduate in April of 2011 after completing my internship. When I graduate I am planning on moving to Dallas Texas, to earn my certificate in special education with an emphasis in visual impairments.

Aside from being a student, I am a wife, a mother of three boy’s(ages four months, 5 years, and 8 years old)a nurse, and a counselor. We also have a dog, who serves as our protector. As a family we enjoy taking trips to the beach, the public library, fishing and traveling.

I enjoy volunteering through Church, AYSO, and Boy Scouts. Through my church family I enjoy helping others with meals and child care during services. Through A.Y.S.O I am a concessions shift director as well as assisting my husband with duties as concessions director. During the school year I help my husband and the den assistant create lessons and activities for the den meetings. Two areas of interest that I would like to be involved with are working with children who have Autism and others that have visual impairments.

I believe the most important things in life are relationships, goals, values, and a belief system. Relationships are what form the solidity of the rock you walk on, goals give you a road map to follow, values create rules to abide by and beliefs bring you strength, protection and hope.

**My Professional Article:**

Unit Plan: Poverty and wealth:

How It Affects Me and My Community

** Grade Level: ** Freshman English

** School and Community Description: ** This unit will be taught in an urban school district where there are students from both sides of the spectrum of poverty and wealth. This school has an average graduation rate of 75% and is a very diverse school. I chose this school because students will be able to see both sides of the topic through learning from each other by drawing on one another’s experiences. The classroom be set up based on Nancy Atwells reading writing workshop. Students will sit in groups of at least four students and during whole class discssion we will sit in one large circle. The walls will have bullitins of information to help students with thier reading and writing processes. There will be one bulitin full of transitions and another on grammar usage. In one corner of the room will be a couple bookshelves making up the classroom library.

** Unit plan Summary: ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The unit will intertwine poverty and wealth through reading circles, reader’s theatre, an online newspaper and two mini research projects. The unit will have two main sections. Students will focus on poverty first then they will change gears to a focus on wealth with a final project combining both topics at the end of the unit. The students will have a selection of books to choose from that will contain multiple topics within our main theme and use the reading circles to help each other learn about the novels. Reader’s theatre will be used as means to make their novels come to life and give the students a more in depth look at the literature. Reader’s theatre and the online newspaper will also give each students the opportunity to learn about each novel without the need of reading all but the one they chose. The writing project will consist of a mini research paper students will create. Each student will be able to choose their own topic within the theme of the unit to conduct further research. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The unit will also have weekly vocabulary, writing Journals, and quizzes to be completed. The vocabulary will come from each book depending on which one the student chose. The writing journals will help them make connections for their reading circle discussions. Quizzes will serve as an assessment of the understanding, level of reading and writing each student is performing. This will show the teacher areas for possible mini lessons.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**Resources:** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; line-height: 200%;">[]: Homelessness in America []: Homelessness in America []: Homelessness in America. []: Website about Literature circles. [|Education World]: This site has a lot of different handouts for the classroom. [|Readers Theater Resource]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**Supplemental Readings:** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">The book Thief:[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Optional Study Guide] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">A Step From Heaven:[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian:[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">The First Part Last:[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">If I Grow Up:[|Book Information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Bowery Girl:﻿[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Beneath My Mothers Feet:[|Book information at Amazon.com] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Half World:﻿﻿[|Book Information at Amazon.com]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**Handouts:** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Vocabulary Handout] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Readers Response Handout] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Writing Journal Handout] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading Circles Guided Handout] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading Circle Summarizer] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading Circle Discussion Director] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading Circle Literature Luminary] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading circles Connector] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">[|Reading Circles Illustrator] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 144%;">**Lesson Plans** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 144%;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">State Standards Covered in Unit

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 1.1.1 CE 1.1.2 CE 1.1.3 CE 1.1.8 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 1.2.2 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 1.3.1 CE 1.3.2 CE 1.3.3 CE 1.3.6 CE 1.3.7 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 1.4.1 CE 1.4.2 CE 1.4.4 CE 1.4.5 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 1.5.1 CE 1.5.2 CE 1.5.4 CE 1.5.5 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 2.1.3 CE 2.1.7 CE 2.2.2 CE 2.3.7 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">CE 3.1.2 CE 3.1.2 CE 3.1.3 CE 3.1.9 CE 3.2.4

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