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Mrs. Amy Whaley
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Hanceville Middle School
Hometown:
Hanceville, Alabama
Class Information:
Room Number: 2
Students per Class: 100
Class Description:
The best way to descibe my seventh-grade science class is "busy." I incorporate hands-on, inquiry-based learning daily. The students are always actively engaged in their lessons--using microscopes, building DNA models, performing various laboratory activities, or designing their own experiments. It's busy and sometimes hectic, but it works. The students enjoy their learning environment, and in turn, become better students. They are more interested and involved in their own learning, which makes them more successful in my classroom.
Position:
teacher
Needs:
With recent budget cuts, our school has become paperless, which means that we can no longer photocopy assignments or work for our students. Therefore, we depend greatly on technology to be able to present our lessons and lead our students in their assignments and activities. I need various pieces of technology in order to present my lessons the way that I would believe would be the most effective for my students. I have an LCD projector in my classroom but would like to have an interactive whiteboard with which to engage my students in various lessons.
My Philosophy:
Education is a part of life. It has no beginning, and it has no end. My number one job as an educator is to teach children to become life-long learners, to teach them to think, reason, and solve problems, and to prepare them to become productive citizens that will continue to grow and develop throughout their entire lives. Education is the foundation that builds a person into who he or she is and will become, and education is what allows people to discover the world around them. I once read, "The purpose of education is to learn to die satiated with life" (Lisa Delpit, 1995). In other words, it is my job as an educator to give children as many opportunities as possible to soak up as much knowledge as they can. I have to bring them experiences that are so full of the wonder of life that they acutally enjoy learning. I have to first create and then satisfy a thirst for knowledge and experience. That sounds like a big job, but what a wonderful opportunity it is! How exciting it is to imagine the influences that I get to have on others. Satuarate students with life, with learning, with real experiences; create learners that yearn to know more....that's the purpose of education.
Personal Information:
About Me:
I am 33-years old. I graduated from high school in 1994 and was valedictorian of my graduating class. I attended Auburn University, where I graduated summa cum laude. I then began teaching in the same rural school from where I had graduated. I also began coaching the Varsity cheerleaders, and have coached them for the last ten years. After teaching five years, I began graduate school at the University of Alabama, where I earned a Master's Degree. I am married and have a 6-year old step-son. I love dogs (I have a Golden Retriever named Marley), and I love Auburn football.
College and Degrees:
I have a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education (Science) from Auburn University. I have a Master's Degree in Secondary Education (Biology) from the University of Alabama.
Favorite Quotes:
The purpose of education is to learn to die satiated with life. That, I believe, is what we need to bring to our schools: experiences that are so full of the wonder of life, so full of connectedness, so embedded in the context of our communities, so brilliant in the insights that we develop and the analyses that we devise, that all of us, teachers and students alike, can learn to live lives that leave us truly satisfied (Lisa Delpit, 1995).
Employment History:
I have taught science at Hanceville Middle School for ten years. I have also coached the Hanceville Varsity cheerleaders for those ten years.
Why Do I Teach?:
I teach because I love it....I love the students; I love the difference that I make in their lives; I love knowing that I affect them today, tomorrow, and many years to come; I love the interest, the excitement, and the desire of the the students to learn and grow. As generic as it may sound, I teach because I want to make a difference, and I believe that I can and that I do.