I was born and raised in a small country village named Milledgeville in Northwestern, PA. I was raised by my parents, Cynthia Pearsol-Mc Elhatten and Robert K. Mc Elhatten. I have two siblings, Rob L. Mc Elhatten and Teddy Mc Elhatten. Throughout my childhood years, I often played in Deer Creek which is a small stream that lies across from my childhood home. During summers, my brother and I spent much of our time at our grandparents‘ houses--both of which were within one mile of our home.
I attended Cochranton Elementary School and Cochranton Jr., Sr. High School, graduating 14th in my class in 1997 with a GPA of 3.99. Additionally, I attended Allegheny College located in Meadville, PA during my senior year of high school.
I was a very active student, involving myself in as many activites that I could. I was a member of the Cochranton‘s competitive marching band, playing quads and snare. I was also a member of the pit and served as an assistant conductor. Additionally, I was a percussionist in the concert band and participated in several county and regional bands. Moreover, I played violin and was a member of the orchestra at my high school and at Slippery Rock University. In addition to being an active part of the musical community, I was involved with the student council and served as the school board liason at school board meetings. To continue my involvement, I was the catcher for the varsity softball team for two years. Last, I was an active member of art club.
After attending a small rural school, I realized that I need a more global experience to round out my education. Therefore, I selected The Pennsylvania State University as my college of choice. There I majored in education with an option in English and Communications. I maintained an average GPA of 3.54. During my years at PSU, I worked for the College of Education and dedicated myself to my studies and a high academic standard. Throughout my junior and senior years, I was a member of the Alpha Pi chapter of the academic fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. During my senior year, I was selected as one of thirteen interns in the English Teacher Professional Development School at PSU. As a member of this PDS, I completed one full year of student teaching (instead of the traditional 15 weeks) on a seventh grade interdisciplinary team at Mt. Nittany Middle School. There, I completed a research project titled, "Literature Circles: Creating Independence in the Classroom."
In 2004, I completed my English as a Second Langauge Certificate at Juniata College. Through this college, I traveled to Ecuador in June 2004. I've also taken multiple Spanish classes as I continue to work on learning a second language. I have taken the last several years off from school. I needed to pursue learning on my own terms. However, I am ready to return and have decided the correct path for me--a masters in education leadership. I hope to get involved with new teacher training at a university.
During summers and vacations from college, I worked at in the Children‘s room of the Meadville Public Library. There I helped develop and implement the summer reading programs, recommend books to children, and read at story times. It was my three years with this library that helped give me the enormous background knowledge and love of middle school literature that is necessary to help students become readers.
After graduating, I taught at a school nestled in the Allegheny National Forest, Kane Area Middle School. There I taught three courses: seventh grade honors communications, eighth grade honors communications, and eighth grade general communications. I taught at KAMS for two years. However, given my professional goals I was forced to leave Kane and find work in a town closer to colleges and universities that offer a wider selection of graduate programs.
Currently, I am teaching seventh language arts at Spring Cove Middle School. One day, there will be bigger plans for me. I have many things that I'd like to do--teach English as a foreign language at a university; become a teacher training; write a novel; teach writing in the community; and study yoga professionally.
During the 2009-2010 school year, I will begin to work on becoming a Nationally Board Certified teacher. This is a long, tedious process that will improve my practice and my students' experience in my classroom.
During the summer, I have taught for the Upward Bound Program at Penn State, University Park. "Upward Bound is a federally funded program that helps high-school students throughout the country gain the academic skills and motivation to continue their education beyond high school." I teach courses that focus on improving students' writing skills so that they can be successful in their writing courses in college.
After teaching for Upward Bound, I traveled to Otalvalo, Ecuador where I attended the University of Octavalo. There I taught local students English and worked towards earning my ESL certificate through Juniata College.
I also do a lot of local and international traveling in the summer. My favorite places to visit include beaches, mountains, and Latin America.
Reading: I love to read. Currently, I enjoy reading science fiction and philosophy. I say currently because my tastes in reading change ever few years. My current favorite middle level author is Walter Dean Myers. My favorite adult fiction author is Ayn Rand. Students often ask me what my favorite book is and I have a difficult time selecting just one because there are so many worthy titles. Visit my Top Ten List to see my current picks.
Writing: I rarely get the opportunity to write these days, but when I do I enjoy the process and the end results. One of my favorite pieces is titled "Grandpa's Waltz." Traditionally, I use this each year to teach narrative writing. I am always amazed at the responses that I get from my students. It's one of my favorite narratives because one of the characters is my grandfather and it tells an amazingly true account of his kindred spirit. It recounts one of my most precious memories of him. In addition to prose, I enjoy writing poetry. Two of my pieces have been published: "Oh Lady, Oh Dear, Oh Love" and most recently "Tiger Lily" which won third place in Altoona One Book Hope Poetry Contest.
Drumming: A passion that was lost has returned--drumming. I recently became involved with The Saint Francis World Drumming Ensemble lead by Jim Donovan (founding member of Rusted Root). We give concerts at local schools with proceeds benefitting their music departments. It's a great way to use a passion to give back to the community.
Hiking: There are some beautiful local trails in in Central PA. One of my favorites is the Mid-State Trail that runs through Central PA and ends in the small town of McElhattan. Another favorite is the Allegheny Front Trail in the Black Moshannon State Forest. In conjunction with hiking, I love to go letterboxing. To learn more about letterboxing visit www.letterboxing.org. I also enjoy sketching and carving prints/stamps. When you visit my classroom, you can take a look at some of my artwork. In recent years, I've started to canoe. I've taken many trips down the Juniata.