Wednesday, June 24, 2009

One more outstanding teacher added to Taylor!

We are happy to welcome Barbara Humphries to Taylor Middle School. Barbara has accepted a position in the Social Communication Program. She will primarily be working with 6th grade students, and is replacing Jane Johnston, who will be supporting the school with additional Wilson reading classes as well as inclusion Language Arts.

Barbara comes to us from EG Ross Elementary where she taught within an ED classroom. She has a great deal of experience working with developmentally delayed individuals along with behavior challenges students.

She holds a degree from Cabrini College in Science, Special and Elementary education and graduated with honors. She aspires to gain a masters in neuro-psychology and is highly skilled in writing and implementing Behavior Intervention Plans and Functional Behavior Assessments. In addition, she has received training in Sensory Processing Disorders and Interventions, Math U See, Fundations, and in De-Escalation techniques.

Barbara is a welcome edition to Taylor Middle School. Welcome!

New Math and Social Studies teachers added.

We are pleased to announce the addition of two outstanding young teachers to the Taylor staff.

In the math department, we interviewed several outstanding candidates and were fortunate to be able to offer the position to Annette Caro. Mrs. Caro is currently teaching 4th grade at Atrisco ES. She has a very strong math background having minored in it in college. She has her BS from Angelo State University in San Angelo TX with endorsements in reading and math and graduate hours in bilingual education with bilingual and TESOL endorsements from College of Santa Fe. She is well versed in A2L and continuous classroom improvements and has implemented PDSA at Atrisco. She has taught with APS since August 2004.

In the social studies department, we again interviewed some stellar candidates for this short term position. Again, we had several outstanding candidates from whom to choose. We agreed that Melissa Navarro was the best candidate. Ms. Navarro received her BA from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She has graduate hours from UT San Antonio in history. She has taught 6th grade social studies for the past three years Texas, most recently at Camino Real MS in El Paso. She has coached volleyball, basketball, track, softball, tennis, and was a yearbook sponsor. Like Annette, she is well versed in the use of short cycle assessment date to drive and inform instruction.

Melissa and Annette will be the third and fourth new teachers we have hired this summer. As I wrote two weeks ago, we also hired a pair of STEMS interns from UNM to replace Nichole Pennington. Bonnie Bissell and Tobi Camilli will be teaming in this capacity. Like Melissa and Annette, they are smart, vibrant, and highly motivated women who have a passion for teaching.

We are very excited to have added such bright and dynamic young teachers to our staff.

Two new teachers added to our staff

We are pleased to announce the addition of two outstanding young teachers to the Taylor staff.

In the special education department, we interviewed several outstanding candidates for the open gifted position vacated when Laura Hurlbirt moved to New York. We were fortunate to be able to offer the position to Sarah Resnik. Sarah is currently teaching gifted language arts at McKinley MS. She has a very strong language arts background in addition to her work with gifted student. She has her BA in speech communications from Middle Tennessee State and a MS in curriculum and instruction from College of Santa Fe. She is a Highland HS graduate and was recognized as a Golden Apple Scholar in 2006. Sarah has endorsements in gifted education. She is well versed in continuous classroom improvements and has implemented PDSA at McKinley. She has taught with APS since August 2006.

For the position of ISS monitor, we again interviewed some well qualified candidates for this position. One gentleman stood out however – Michael Williams. (Yes we know that makes two Mr. M. Williams at Taylor). Michael has his bachelor’s degree in health education from Mount Saint Vincent College in Riverdale, NY and an associate’s degree from Queensborough CC in computer programming. He was the TIPS EA at Cleveland MS last year and we were very fortunate to pick him up from Cleveland. He is a licensed Health teacher and in addition to his duties at Taylor, he will be an assistant football coach at Valley HS. He has worked with behaviorally and emotionally challenged children in New York since 1995 and we feel very lucky to have hired someone with his depth of experience.

Sarah and Michael join four other outstanding young teachers we hired this summer:
• Bonnie Bissell – science
• Tobi Camilli – science
• Annette Caro Castilla – math
• Melissa Navarro – social studies

We are still interviewing for a social communications teacher. We expect to interview for this in early July.

We are very excited to have added such bright and dynamic young educators to our staff.