Personal Information:
My name is Jon Reynolds. I just turned 24 years old on the 18th of January. I currently reside in Sylvania, OH where I have lived for over 3 years. I am the oldest child of 2 in my family. I have a younger sister who is 20 years old. I graduated from the University of Toledo back in May of 2008. In my spare time I like to hang out with my girlfriend, Rachel, watch TV (mostly sports and pro wrestling), listen to my iPod, work out, and play video games. My father is a Southern Baptist pastor at a small church in our hometown. I am the song leader and I am also in a 4, soon to be 3, person praise team as well.
Work Experience:
Trying to find a teaching job right after graduation was a bear! I had several interviews during the summer, but were all denied or filled with another applicant. About 4 days before the start of school, I received a call from Washington Local Schools about a long-term substitute position at one of their elementary schools; the special ed. teacher was on maternity leave. I interviewed over the phone and about a half hour later, I was offered the position! I was enjoying my time at Greenwood Elementary when I got word of a full-time special ed. position open at Britton-Macon Schools in Britton, MI. Knowing that my long-term assignment was about to be over, I sent my information to the school and hoped for the best. About a week later, I received a call from the principal and had an interview set up for later that week. A couple of days after the interview, I received another phone call from the principal saying that the interview panel was very impressed and that a second interview was in the works. To make a long story short, I was offered the position at Britton-Macon where I am currently the Middle School/High School Special Ed. Resource Room English teacher. I am also supervising the school weight room once a week and I run the clock for the home boys basketball games. I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
What I hope to get from this course:
I hope to better myself as an educator by gaining new understanding of ELA philosophies and hopefully get some good ideas for lessons from the other participants. I know that becoming HQT in your specific subject area is federally mandated and I wanted to start working on it as soon as I could. I also need more practice at self-evaluating my teaching strategies and style. Taking this online course will hopefully make me more responsible in following deadlines and getting assignments turned in on time since I'm not required to attend a class. Also, trying to balance my schedule and make time to do all the work and do it efficiently and effectively.
