About My Classroom

Current Placement

My current placement is at Heritage Baptist Academy in Cordova, Tennessee. I have been employed at Heritage Baptist since August 2017. Our school serves students PreK-12, and seeks to provide an affordable, Christian-based education to families in Memphis and the surrounding communities.

We are currently seeking accreditation with the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the American Association of Christian Schools.

Our school enrolls about seventy students total, with 27% receiving financial aid or tuition assistance. The upper school, which encompasses grades 7-12, enrolls twenty-five students, approximately 48% of which are students of color. 40% of upper school students are female, and 60% are male. 32% of our upper school students are currently served using an Individual Education Plan, or an IEP.

Classroom teachers are encouraged to use or adopt their own set of standards according to the students' needs. Standards and objectives are compiled and submitted to accreditation agencies at the beginning of each year. I teach using the Common Core College & Career Readiness standards in my English Language Arts classrooms, and the Iowa CORE Social Studies* standards in my history classes. Teachers are strongly encouraged to teach primarily from the course textbooks, but I prefer to use them as supplements to my regular format of instruction.

I teach six classes:

7th & 8th grade Grammar - 13 students

7th & 8th Grade Language Arts - 13 students

9th & 10th Grade Fundamentals of Literature - 8 students

11th & 12th Grade British Literature - 4 students

7th & 8th Grade World Studies - 13 students

9th & 10th Grade World History - 8 students

These classes are 45 minutes each, daily. Our school day lasts from 8:00 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.

In addition to my regular classes, I am also the school's speech and debate team coach.

*The Iowa state assessment is used by our school as the end-of-year achievement test for our students.

Previous Placement

My previous placement was at Holly Springs Junior High School in Holly Springs, Mississippi. I was employed at Holly Springs Junior High from August 2015-May 2017. The school serves grades seven and eight, and their mission "is to gradually increase academic achievement by providing quality instruction for every student" (Holly Springs Junior High School).

The school is one of four schools in Holly Springs School District, and is accredited through the Mississippi State Department of Education.

During my tenure at the school, it enrolled roughly 220 students total, with approximately 95% receiving free or reduced lunch. The school was approximately 98% African American. About half of the student body was male, and half female. 9% of the students received special education services.

The school uses the Mississippi College & Career Readiness Standards, an iteration of Common Core, for teaching core subjects. Additionally, teachers are provided with a pacing guide and various programs that they are expected to teach from throughout the school year. Otherwise, teachers could choose the material and format of instruction used daily in their classrooms.

I taught two classes for both of my years in this placement: 7th Grade Reading, and 7th Grade Learning Strategies. My reading class focused exclusively on reading for literature, and the learning strategies class served the students who scored in the basic band of their previous year's state assessment. Each reading class period was between eighteen and twenty-three students, and my learning strategies classes were limited to twelve students. Classes lasted fifty minutes, and I taught six class periods. The school day lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In addition to regular classes, I offered tutoring two afternoons a week while in this placement

References:

HSSD Seal [Image]. Retrieved October 06, 2018 from: http://www.juniorhigh.hssd.k12.ms.us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27

[Image of a school seal featuring a red hawk and the words 'Heritage Baptist Academy est. 1973]. Retrieved October 06, 2018, from: https://www.hbamemphis.com/