KRISTIN CHAMPION

Rim of the World Unified School District

Hello everyone! I am an SDC teacher at Rim of the World High

School in Lake Arrowhead, California. I have been teaching for
two years and I love it. I live with my husband and 9 month old
daughter. I look forward to learning more about integrating
technology into my classroom through ETEC 537.

KRISTIN CHAMPION

HIGH SCHOOL SDC LANGUAGE ARTS & BUSINESS MATH

(GRADES 9-12)

Thus far, my experience as an educator

has been both enjoyable and
educational. For the past two years, I
havetaught SDC English and Business
Math to 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade,
and 12th grade students. I have relied on
experienced colleagues and resources
to face challenges. Though there have
been both ups and downs, the past two
years have confirmed that teaching is
my passion and will continue to be my
career for life.

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of my career, I was completely unsure of my ability to be an

effective educator. Though I had worked in many classes previously, I was
never solely responsible for the curriculum, success, and well being of so
many students. I felt overwhelmed and afraid to make ANY mistakes. Now,
after two successful school years, my confidence has grown immensely. Ive
realized that mistakes are an opportunity for growth and that I am capable of
running a classroom.

WHERE HAVE I GROWN?

A BIT ABOUT MY CLASSROOM

As I teach four periods of SDC English, I
find organization to be imperative to the
success of the class. At the beginning of
the year, I purchased enough colored
folders for all of my students. Each class
unanimously chose a color to represent
their period. Students used these folders
everyday and for all class activities. Our
daily classroom routine began with
students getting their individual folders
before going to their assigned seat. The
folder holds all classwork in progress as
well as any work they had missed during
absences. This keeps students organized
and from misplacing work. I plan to
continue to use student folders in future
years!

STUDENT FOLDERS

JOURNALS

At the beginning of the school year, I created a classroom routine

that instructed students to start every day by getting their
individual folders and going to their assigned seat, without being
asked. Once the bell rang, students had ten minutes to complete
their daily journal (located in each folder.)

SAMPLE JOURNAL PROMPT:

Write about your favorite and Requirements for journals included:
Write two complete sentences (using a subject, predicate, and
least favorite thingsabout
correct grammar and punctuation).
school. Why do you like
Have a classmate check journal for errors.
them or dislike them?
Have Mrs. Champion check journal for errors.
Earn a stamp for credit
In order to receive points for each journal, students had to be selfmotivated and complete all requirements in the allotted time. This
helped students to become more independent, as well to begin the
class.
After journals had been checked, students were given the
opportunity to share their responses out loud. This allowed the
class to get to know each other on a more personal level.

I created a very simple token economy in my

classroom. Students had the opportunity to earn
raffle tickets for positive behaviors and classroom
participation.
For example, students who shared their journal
entries with the class were rewarded by earning
tickets. Upon receiving a ticket, the student would
write his or her name on the ticket and place it in
the correct class periods box.

TOKEN ECONOMY

At the end of each week, I held a drawing for every

class period. Three students from each class won
per week. The reward was typically candy. Though
this was a simple reward, it proved to be very
effective!

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
As part of their curriculum, my tenth grade SDC English class
read the novel The Giver. The Giver is a book about a boy who
lives in a unusual community. Before reading the book, students
were placed into random pairs and asked to create a community
of their own. I was very impressed by the creativity shown by
the students. In my classroom, I tried to incorporate lessons
apart from typical paper and pencil assignments in order to
generate student interest.

STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT

I plan to continue to grow as an

educator by encouraging feedback
from colleagues and administrators. I
am also taking education courses and
working towards a Masters degree in
Special Education. In the future, I hope
to have a curriculum and classroom
environment that is effective for all
students. Additionally, I aspire to
enrich the lives of all students I meet.

FUTURE GOALS