My Teaching Years

The school that I teach at strongly advocates for literacy in all core subjects and we attend several professional development seminars each year on all of the different strategies that we can use.  Surprisingly as someone that loves Math, English was always my second favorite subject. However I still dreaded these seminars to begin with because I could not fathom how I could possibly teach literacy and get through my entire curriculum.   Fortunately I learned that it was more about implementing different strategies to teach and convey the math concepts than actually adding an additional curriculum.  My favorite literacy strategy is called C.U.B and it helps my students to decipher and interpret word problems.  The C stands for circle the important numbers, U stands for underline the keywords that tell you which operation to use, and B stands for box the question.  I have my students use this strategy for every word problem.  All of my tests are short answer, whether it be simply showing their work mathematically or writing their steps out in words.  As I learned over the years, it takes practice to improve any skill.  If we want our students to be productive citizens then they need to practice skills they can use in the real world.  As a math teacher I know how important math is for these students but I also realize how important literacy skills are as well.

My mom instilled in me my love for reading while Mrs. Powell and my college freshman English professor improved my writing skills and taught me to appreciate the importance of all literacy skills.  I love to hear about what my students are reading and I almost always end up reading the same books.  I want to be able to show my students as much enthusiasm for both math and reading as my mom has shown to me throughout the years.  I want to challenge my students to think outside of the box and to enhance their reading and writing skills as well as their math skills.  My mom, sisters, and myself are always exchanging books and I try to read whenever I get a spare moment.  I am sure I am not the only one whose husband enjoys playing video games with his friends and if you take anything away from this blog...take that time to read a good book, make a list, or write in your journal!  

North Carolina State University

I don’t know what it is about me and freshman English classes but they have been the most influential in my literacy growth.  After my freshman year of high school I continued to get A’s in all of my English classes...until my freshman year of college.  I received a B on my first paper and I immediately went to my professor’s office hours to figure out where I needed to improve.  He of course gave me some great ideas and I applied them to my next paper.  Unfortunately I received a B on my next paper as well.  I went right back to his office and wrote down more areas where I could improve my writing.  I took all of them into consideration and applied them to the next paper that he assigned.  And again I earned a B!  I was at a complete loss.  I went to his office hours again because I was determined that I was not going to let Mrs. Powell down.  I was going to earn an A.

I wish I could remember my professor’s name but I will never forget what he said to me that day. He asked me if I was use to getting A’s to which I replied for the most part that was true.  He then preceded to state the obvious, “But now you are receiving B’s”.  I would have never guessed what he was about to say next though.  He told me that that was the exact reason he wasn’t giving me an A on my papers.  He explained to me that he wanted me to change things up a bit.  He wanted me to stop writing my papers as if he was the one reading that was them.  He wasn’t looking to see if I could simply regurgitate facts and form my own opinions.  He was looking to see if I could step outside of the box and have a deep enough comprehension of the subject to make inferences and connections.  Once again my writing skills were put to the test.  I by no means think that I have perfected my writing skills but I have seen how they have been influenced and have improved over the years to adapt to what was being asked of me.

High School English

Although I have always been an avid reader I have never thought too much about my own writing style.  I preferred not to focus on it because I have never felt like writing was one of my strong suits.  I made A’s in my middle school English classes but so did all of my friends.  I still would not consider myself an excellent writer but I definitely feel like I have improved over the years.

My 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Powell, was an older woman with a lot of spunk.  She had ridiculously high expectations and challenged me more than I had ever been challenged before.  I will never forget her class...it was where I earned my first B.  I was so determined to prove to not only her but to myself that I could earn an A.  

I unfortunately had to do the very last project of the semester on my own because I had missed class the day that everyone had chosen partners.  (I was more upset about missing class and not having a partner than the fact that I had spent the day getting a cast put on my ankle.)  We had been given a book to read and were required to create a presentation of some sort that involved every type of writing that we had covered that semester.  This was not your typical “book report”.  We were not just spitting out facts into a nice presentation.  I decided to do a scrapbook of all of the major events that had occurred in my book. On each page I included pictures of the event and one of the required writing formats.  I literally wanted to cry when I turned it in because I was so afraid that I had failed to meet both of our expectations.  I ended up receiving an A on the project and Mrs. Powell actually pulled my mom aside at lunch to tell her how amazing my project was.  She even kept my project as an example for future classes.  In that one single accomplishment, Mrs. Powell made me feel like I had finally figured it out.  I had actually enjoyed that project and I no longer had the same disdain for writing as I had in the pas

Elementary School

I went to Guy B. Teachey Elementary school once we moved to North Carolina. The school had a reading program called Accelerated Reader that I of course was interested in. We got to choose from a variety of books and then all we had to do was go on a computer and answer a few questions about the book that we had read.  My mom would have me summarize and discuss with her every book before I would take the test.  I made a perfect score on almost every AR computer test.  That was when I realized not only did I enjoy reading but I was actually pretty good at it.  I was reading all of these amazing books and I was comprehending them well enough that I could answer almost any question that was thrown at me.  My favorite books that I read, even still to this day, were Tuck Everlasting and Harry Potter.

When I was in  Middle School our local library held a reading contest every summer to see who could read the most books.  This obviously appealed to me because not only do I enjoy reading but I am highly competitive. I made sure I was in the “Top 3 Readers” during all three summers that I participated.  I was reading so many books each summer that I eventually had to start reading books that were outside of my normally preferred fantasy/mystery genre.  This prepared me for all of the books that I would have to read throughout my educational career. If we are all being completely honest with ourselves, most of our teachers did not require the most interesting of book choices.

Early Childhood

Just to give you a little background about my family….both of my parents earned a bachelor's degree right after high school and my mom completed her Master’s degree shortly after I was born. My mom is currently a math teacher at Asheboro High School and teaches night classes at Randolph Community College. Although my dad did not pursue the same career, he put just as much emphasis on the importance of a good education as my mother did.  It was understood that I would work hard and go to college.

My mom read to me every night growing up.  I would not be surprised if my mom read to me every single Dr. Seuss book that had been written at that time.  She absolutely loves to read and her enthusiasm was contagious.  She had me sounding out words and reading on a 2nd grade level before I had even started Kindergarten.  I went into Kindergarten knowing the entire alphabet and could write out my full name (Elizabeth is not an easy task for a 5 year old incase you were wondering).

My mom instilled into me a love for reading at a very young age.  My house was filled with books from the day I was born and I still to this day enjoy reading for pleasure.  I of course didn’t realize then that my mom was actually preparing me for years to come. I can honestly say that I don’t think I would enjoy reading as much as I do now had my childhood not been focused around books.

A Little Bit About Me....

• My name is Renee Adams Tysinger.

• I am in the Masters degree program at UNCG.

• I teach 7th grade math.

• I cheer on an adult cheerleading competition team.

• I love reading the young adult novels that my students recommend.

• My favorite book series is Harry Potter.

• I love to travel.