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TEACHING PORTFOLIO
MS. KELLY CATANZARO
First Year Educator
Welcome and thank you for visiting my online teaching portfolio! This portfolio includes a few of many successful lesson plans, activities and projects that I had created and implemented during my student teaching experience. To learn more about my background, experience, and skills, simply scroll through!
ABOUT ME
As a natural born go-getter, my passion of teaching has continuously driven me to expand my knowledge, experience, and professional relationships in the field of education. With a strong educational background and diverse skill-set, I’m confident in the creative ideas and successful lessons I can bring to the classroom. Please feel free to keep exploring my portfolio to learn more information about me, my teaching experience and why I would be a strong asset in your district.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
A Closer Look at My Classroom Experience
September 2018 - April 2019
STUDENT TEACHER | FORRESTDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL | RUMSON, NJ
Created weekly lesson plans for literacy and mathematics
Created a positive learning environment for all students with various learning needs and abilities
Created assessments, activities, and daily lessons to educate students and allow them to grow
Attended all faculty meetings and fifth grade team meetings to date
Received perfect scores from observations with supervisor on ELA and math lessons taught
Worked alongside cooperating teacher to ensure the best learning environment for students in fifth grade classroom- this includes preparing for last minute activities that we believed would help the students that day, creating differentiated assessments/activities based on individual children’s IEP and 504 Plans
October 2017 - June 2019
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER | MONMOUTH COUNTY & SUSSEX COUNTY NJ
Substitute taught various grade levels within the middle school
Took over classrooms with more than twenty students with various learning needs
Managed classrooms to create a positive, efficient working environment
Led close reading discussions, provided guidance for all assignments and assessments
Worked alongside multiple general education teachers while substituting for special education teachers
Led guided reading discussions, mathematical lessons, and science experiments as lead teacher
Provided guidance for all subject based assignments
Presented tests/quizzes for the students to complete and hand in
Assisted Google Expeditions staff in promoting the creation of augmented reality products to be used in schools
Disciplined difficult students when needed and necessary
April 2018 to August 2018
SUMMER CAMP TEACHER | KINSTON, NC
Taught my own class of 24 students aged 5 to 7 years old reading skills, writing skills, math skills
Completed many creative projects and lessons
Read aloud books, practice “sight words” in small groups
Prepared students for their upcoming school year
Tutoring with afterschool homework
STEM application with experiments and various activities such as “Spaghetti Strength”
Field trips to AirU Trampoline Park, Sylvan Heights Bird Sanctuary, Pine Knolls Aquarium, and West Water Park
EDUCATION
Collegiate Experience
My education has not only provided the foundation for the rest of my experiences, but has also made me a lifelong learner who is eager to gain more skills and knowledge.
MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY | BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION K-6 AND ENGLISH
September 2015 - May 2019
Throughout my four years at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ I acquired all of my teaching skills, classroom confidence and management skills to date. Monmouth University is a nationally accredited university with a vigorous education program. Starting as a sophomore in 2016, I had observed classrooms at Wolf Hill Elementary School in Oceanport NJ, Bradley Beach Elementary School in Bradley Beach NJ, Raritan Valley Elementary School in Hazlet NJ, Middle Road School in Hazlet NJ and Forrestdale Middle School in Rumson NJ where I completed 100 observation hours and student taught in a fifth grade classroom my senior year. I ended my college career with a 3.5 GPA.
My experience at Monmouth has also brought me job opportunities which include working as a Box Office Assistant at the Lauren K. Woods Theater, as a Speech Pathology Office Assistant at the Monmouth University Graduate Center, and as an Office Assistant at the Monmouth University School of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Each experience provided me with organizational, punctual, and professional responsibilities that I continue to carry with me.
STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING
Throughout my classroom experience I noticed a pattern about the students I observed and taught. Students learn best when provided with a choice of how they wish to learn. During student teaching, my cooperating teacher implemented Piaget's constructivist learning theory into her classroom, which I then took over. This theory allowed me to incorporate my own ways of supporting an "I do, we do, you do" method throughout my daily lessons. During each lesson, students were given options as to which tasks they wanted to complete, all which enhanced their learning about the topic taught that day.
To ensure that student understanding was strong and consistent, I decided to incorporate some skills from prior lessons into daily tasks in order to reinforce skills previously taught. I learned that some students learn a skill, then tuck it away to never come to the surface again. This implementation of reinforcing prior skills, diminishes this lack of understanding and leads a student to "mastery" of the content.
EDUCATIONAL PRESENTER
Spoke on behalf of Monmouth University’s piloting of the Teacher Residency Program at the national AACTE Conference in Baltimore, MD March 2nd, 2018
Asked by Monmouth School of Education’s Dean Henning to speak on behalf of Monmouth University’s Education Program at Monmouth University’s Open House on October 7, 2018 to all incoming freshman and their families
Oceanport Elementary School Family Math Night Presenter for first grade addition skills. Here I conducted and implemented my own math activity for students and families to play and learn from
NJFEA Student Panel March 13, 2018 and April 14, 2019 - Spoke on a panel of students to incoming freshman about the Education Program at Monmouth University
CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY
Google Expeditions/Augmented Reality trained on October 18, 2017 at Middle Road Elementary School in Hazlet, NJ
SMARTBoard trained on September 5, 2018 at Forrestdale Middle School in Rumson, NJ
Source4Teachers Program training on October 5, 2018 at Kean University in Union, NJ
Google Classroom Certification (In the works!)
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Sending care packages and cards to soldiers overseas with Middle Road Elementary School, Juvenile Arthritis Family Day, Relay for Life, Ronald McDonald House, Autism MVP Walk, Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis Research, United Methodist Communities Bristol Glen Senior Living
IMPLEMENTED LESSONS
My student teaching experience has provided me with planning skills that will last a lifetime. The two black and white buttons below hold one math and one ELA lesson that I created. Below these links, are the corresponding slide decks created on Google Slides that resemble a typical fifth grade "Lesson of the Day" at Forrestdale Middle School. Please be sure to click on the slides below to view the entire presentation!
MATHEMATICS
A Glimpse of a Math Lesson
During my fifth grade student teaching experience, my class specifically piloted a new mathematical curriculum titled, Big Ideas: A Common Core Curriculum written by Laurie Boswell and Ron Larson. Piloting this program ultimately made our class the "guinea pigs" of a program that the district would implement into every classroom during the following 2019-2020 school year. Big Ideas incorporated 14 Topics ranging from "Numbers and Operations in Base Ten" through "Classifying Two Dimensional Shapes". Check out an example lesson plan in the button above, along with an example of lesson-based slides for Topic 8 Lesson 8 "We Can Solve Multi-Step Word Problems Involving Fractions and Mixed Numbers ". On average, the students completed about four to five tasks per lesson, daily. The students were pulled from their daily tasks to complete a variety of problems in small groups based on their mathematical ability. A typical math period lasted around two hours each day, allowing for a great amount of time to teach one lesson per day and to achieve above average understanding for every student.
ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS
A Glimpse of an ELA Lesson
Teaching fifth grade ELA was an experience that allowed me to truly realize my passion for the subject of english. There were various lessons that incorporated history, including the Document Based Question Topic for "How Free were 'Free' Blacks in the North?". The fifth grade curriculum also implemented the genre of Fantasy Fiction through the teaching of the Harry Potter series, RST/DBQ and LAT writing tasks, book clubs and various reading strategies. However, this portfolio spotlights a lesson during the "Think Different" portion of the curriculum. I chose to highlight this aspect of ELA for my fifth grade students due to the fact that this unit is one that incorporated higher order thinking, researching, reading skills, writing skills, peer assistance, and presentations. In the photo slide gallery above, you will view a glimpse of a daily lesson structure for the fifth grade about Webb's Depth of Knowledge Questions. Please be advised that these students did not receive additional homework, however, what was not completed during class time was to be completed for homework.
"One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world."
Malala Yousafzai
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