Where I've Been

I was born in a blizzard in Albany, New York, and have pretty much remained here for my entire life.  I attended Colonie Central School District when I was younger, and then went to Siena College for my undergraduate work.  Although Siena College was only about ten minutes from my parents's house, I decided to live on campus and it was the best decision I have ever made.  The life lessons and friendships I made at Siena were unimaginable and I thank God every day for giving me that experience.  I am currently living in the Capital District and working on my masters at The College of Saint Rose.  

My Life as an Educator

This is my second year teaching, and I have only taught 8th grade (regular and accelerated) math...so 8th grade is my absolute favorite grade to teach.  Despite the fact I can only compare 8th grade to 7th grade and 9th-12th (from my student teaching experience), I love 8th graders.  Everyday is a new experience for them.  Eighth graders are great because they are still little kids inside, but at the same time they are growing into adulthood.  Adolescents are so fun to work with because everyday is a mystery.  Kids go from being silly and singing songs to crying about their crush who isn't "crushing" on them at the moment.  Eighth graders are so impressionable and still savable, which are probably my two favorite reasons for loving the age group so much.

As for myself as a teacher, I'm definitely energetic. I pride myself on greeting and saying goodbye to all my students at the door with a friendly smile or simply, "How are you doing today?"  I believe that the best way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.  So the more hands on activities I do, the better I feel the atmosphere in my classroom is.  I demand respect from my students and for my students.  I start off the year by saying I am going to do everything in my power to help ALL of my students be successful, but they have to do their part too.  

When I'm Not Working...

When I'm not actually teaching in my classroom,  I'm usually either running my Student Council meetings, helping a student before/after school, in a meeting, working on school work, or working on graduate classwork.  If for some reason there seems to be a little bit of time left over, I absolutely LOVE to dance.  I'm on a dance team that competes, and up until last weekend we were the grand champions at every competition (last weekend we came in 2nd).  I also love spending time with my dog (Shadow) and cat (Siena), who are both the loves of my life.  As you could have probably guessed by my living in the Capital Region my entire life, I am very close with my family and love spending time with them.  My boyfriend and many of my close friends are also teachers, so we all understand the busy schedules we keep.  Free time or time to relax is definitely very precious. 

Web Sites I Like

• Ms. Mal's Home Page is where I post my daily homework assignments, important class announcements, and grades.
• Sudokus, what's better than that?
• Integers, Integers, and More Integers...practice makes perfect!
  
• The Yankees are by far the best team in baseball, just check them out.