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."
I recently 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 soon hope to also earn my adult basic education certificate.
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, I would like to English teach at the Universidad de Otavalo in Ecuador. Also, I'd like to move west to work in an family immigrant literacy center, helping immigrants learn English.
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.
This past summer, I traveled to Mexico. There I improved my Spanish and learned about modern and ancient Mexican cultures.
Currently, I enjoy reading historical fiction and memiors. 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 Chaim Potok. 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.
In addition to reading, I enjoy writing. I rarely get the oppurtunity 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.
But reading and writing are not my entire life, I enjoy 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.
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