What an exciting time of year. I love the anticipation of a fresh new school year. My name is Shelly Duffield and this will be my 18th year of teaching in Madison. Formerly a 4/5 teacher on the east side (in addition I have a special education degree and a 316 license for reading interventions), I made the switch to 6th grade two years ago. My passion is teaching writing. I love working with 6th grade writers, and also teaching Reading and Social Studies. I have two young boys and in our extra time our family loves to be outdoors and be active. If you are interested in running, I coach the Hamilton Cross Country Team! I work hard with building classroom community to have all students feel valued, unique, and respected. We will create this safe community through the use of the Circle of Power and Social Emotional Learning lessons. This blog will be updated daily and will include things such as: summaries of lessons taught, social emotional goals, anchor charts (teacher/co-created), homework, calendar of upcoming events, assessment dates and/or information. The intention of the blog is for parents to catch a glimpse of the school day but it is also my expectation that students check it nightly to review homework or access a taught strategy. I am looking forward to meeting my classroom of learners and their families. Please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns. I can be reached at msikorski@madison.k12.wi.us.
Welcome to Hamilton!
It's going to be a great year. I'm excited to be back at school and can't wait to get started on this new school year. The last couple of years were big year for me personally as I got married and welcomed my two daughters into the world. Last fall I finally got to see things from a parent's perspective, as I sent my daughter Rose to daycare for the first time. She received her first report card! (she received all smiles for eating her carrots;) Now, with a second daughter, Lola, life is even more interesting. This year I'll be acting as a district representative on the common core science team where we are working with college faculty and others to get our science curriculum more aligned with the new NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) that were put out the last couple years (http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards). In years past I have also acted as an assistant coach of the Hamilton Science Olympiad Team and worked with and run various MSCR clubs. In 2016-2017, I'm looking forward to doing some great community building with the students and for the challenges of a semi-new math curriculum (College Preparatory Math http://cpm.org/). CPM brings with it a solid reputation in districts like Middleton and some much needed higher-level challenges to all our students, but will be a change for all of us.
It's going to be a great year,
Justin Kruger
