My name is Susie Shanahan Phillips.
I live in Owosso, Michigan. I grew up in this small town but spent ten years living in Long Beach, California, followed by eight years in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, prior to moving home over ten years ago.
This is my fourteenth year of teaching. I spent my first three years teaching sixth grade, all subjects, in Mecosta and Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. For ten years, I taught seventh-grade English. This year, I am teaching eighth-grade English, and I love it! I am also continuing in my role as English department chair. We are an International Baccalaureate school, and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching with the IB philosophy.
I have been married for 28 years and have two daughters, ages 23 and 20. (Sorry, but both of my daughters chose to attend that other university in Ann Arbor!) Since I had young children when I began teaching, I have never had the time to finish my master's degree. Now, I have decided to spend some time and money on myself and will complete my master's by the end of summer, 2013.
Hi Susie,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the course!
It's very cool that you are doing this after 14 years of teaching--I'm really honored to have you in this class and am anxious to hear about your experiences and how you think things have been changed during that time (we probably started teaching about the same time, but I am not now in schools every day).
I have taught some in the IB program as well, and am interested how you find that as well, especially as those guidelines interact with the CCSS.
I look forward to learning with you!
Kyle