Introduction

 Hi everyone!

My name is Jenna Gargano. I graduated from SUNY Cortland in May 2024 with a bachelors degree in Inclusive Childhood Education with a concentration in Mathematics. During my sophomore year of college, I started subbing at my local middle school when I was home for breaks and summer. I also subbed at schools in Central NY (Cortland, Syracuse, Ithaca) that I completed my field placement / student teaching at during some breaks. I started this school year as a month long leave replacement in a 6th grade humanities (ELA/SS) role at my local middle school in Putnam County for a teacher who was on maternity leave. Two days after that leave finished, I started another leave replacement as a 6th grade ELA Special Education teacher in Westchester County. I am in this position until the end of the school year. I am teaching two sections of self-contained (special class / small setting 12:1:1) ELA, two sections of ICT ELA, and a Learning Center to assist my special ed caseload with executive functioning skills. As a first year teacher, I have had a lot of assistance and support from my coworkers who have helped me learn so much in so little time. IEP season is almost over!! It has also been amazing to see the difference in ELA curriculum from two schools only 10 miles away from each other. The school I'm currently working at is part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) which is a framework that connects curriculum to the real world. This is my first semester at Empire State University. I chose to pursue the M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction because I wanted to research and stay up to date on best practices and how to incorporate those practices into my own classroom. As a young educator, there is so much room for growth and I want to be able to become a better teacher each year with more experience and knowledge on researched instructional practices. One of my current coworkers always talks about research that she does and books she reads to keep up with current best practice and that also sparked my interest in this program. I don't want to be the teacher who won't change or be open-minded to trying new things in their classroom. I have always wanted to be a teacher since I was a kid but the type of teacher has changed over the years. I started wanting to be an art teacher and now my dream job is a middle school math teacher so I eventually want to get a middle school extension since I am only certified grades 1-6 at the moment. This program also allows the flexibility to continue to be a full time teacher and gain experience while also being a student. I am so excited to apply what I am learning in my own classroom as I complete this degree.

My learning goal for this course is to obtain knowledge on how to incorporate media into all subjects effectively. My current and past students love using technology so being able to build your instruction around media really helps to engage students of all ages. I could put the same assignment on paper and their tablets, and they will always pick to complete the assignment digitally! I have a strength in math and I often find it easier to incorporate media through math projects and lessons so I'd love to learn more about getting students involved with media to assist and enhance their reading and writing. Overall, I'd love to learn more about New Media and New Literacies as a whole as I feel like this is a newer topic for me!

Some of my hobbies include drawing, reading, journaling, doing puzzles, and playing volleyball. I play volleyball for fun sometimes since playing in high school, and I am hoping to get a coaching position soon to continue my teaching in a different setting. 

This meme describes how it has felt since spring has sprung and everyone is loving the warm weather!