Hi there, welcome to Learning Endlessly! Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alexis and I am a wife, mom, and teacher.
I have decided to start this blog to share my experience and expertise of teaching with other teachers and parents. My goal is to provide quality content that displays how learning can be fun, engaging, and authentic, which will eventually lead to lifelong learners that strive for more knowledge and to better themselves.
So, what’s my story?
I met my amazing husband when we were in middle school. We started dating in high school and eventually got married in 2011. We had our daughter, known as A in my blog, in 2016. She is the light of my life and I love watching her learn and grow.
In 2014, I graduated from the University of North Florida with a Bachelor’s in Pre-K/Primary Education with an ESOL endorsement.
A little over a month after graduating my mom was diagnosed with cancer. I decided to hold off on interviewing for teaching positions, so that I could help take care of her, but more importantly, spend as much time with her as I could. Little did any of us know, her battle would be short. My mom lost her battle with cancer less than a month after she was diagnosed. I was extremely close with my mom, she was my best friend. I was devastated and in no condition to prepare to teach a classroom full of students. I held back from subbing and grieved in my own time.
Eventually, I started to pick up subbing jobs again, with no intention of getting a full-time position. However, opportunities kept presenting themselves. My sister-in-law informed me that there was a kindergarten position available at the school she taught at. Kindergarten was my dream position, but I didn’t feel ready. A week or so later, I subbed as a para at a nearby school. I ran into a teacher that taught at my high school and we started talking. One thing led to the next and before I knew it I was hired. However, I wasn’t hired as a classroom teacher, I was hired as a “Varying Exceptionalities” teacher. If you’re like me, you have no idea what that means. It’s basically my district’s title for a special education teacher that travels from room to room providing services for students with special needs in general education classrooms.
I had ZERO ESE (exceptional student education) experience or training. This was a whole new experience for me, but I loved it. I started with Kindergarten through Second Grade. I stayed in that position for a year and a half before going out on maternity leave.
Unfortunately, like most moms, I had to go back to work, despite my desperate desire to stay home with my daughter. I was worried about missing any little detail or milestone in her life. You see, we had to go through fertility treatments to even get pregnant with her. There was no telling if I would ever be able to have another child, so I wanted to cherish every single moment and milestone she reached. It killed me to have to leave her with someone else.
Over the next several years I have taught everything from Pre-K to 6th grade in some capacity. I am currently a First Grade Teacher.
Now that you’ve had a chance to learn more about me, I’d love to hear from you!
Please feel free to reach out to me via comments, email, or social media if you have any questions or would like for me to write about a certain topic.
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