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Email
me: mlewis@amherst.k12.va.us
Hi,
my name is Melanie Lewis. I am an
Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for Amherst County Public Schools,
located in the beautiful state of Virginia. I LOVE my job!
I get to work on my hobby, anything that has to do with
computers. I get to work with teachers and students, and I am
definitely a people person. Plus, I DO NOT have to give
grades. Wonderful, huh?
I am
also a
mentor teacher for my school division. I truly enjoy working
with new teachers. Helping them to reflect on their teaching also
enables me to examine my own practice. As part of our mentoring
project in my division we have begun a Differentiation Implementation
Project. I am serving as a differntiation coach to mostly veteren
teachers who would like to become more familiar with strategies and
tools for differentiated instruction.
I am
currently working toward obtaining my
masters degree in educational administration. After that I would
like to obtain an educational specialists degree and then my
doctorate. I also completed my NETS*T
certification.
When
not at school I enjoy spending time with my family.
I have
two beautiful children, SaraBeth and Michael. I have been married
for 23 years to my husband Mark. And I am probably one of the few
who can say that I love my in-laws!
I
attend Thomas Road Baptist Church.
I
love spending time with my church family too. As a way of saying
"thank-you" to God, I serve as a co-facilitator in a depression support
group called Overcoming Heartache. This support group is under
the Freedom Ministries,
one of my church's outreach ministries.
The mission of the Freedom Ministry is transformational soul care--to
provide a safe place for people with hurts, habits, and hang-ups to be
restored. (Galatians 6:1)
My philosophy of teaching is largely
a reflection of my philosophy of
living. I believe that each day we are all both teachers and
learners. And if we are reflective practitioners, our lives
truly become
enriched by our experiences. I encourage my students to develop a
lifelong commitment of personal growth, and to see the beauty in life
that surrounds them and that is within - to inspire them.
I believe that the interaction between
teaching and learning is an intricate one. As a teacher, I see
myself as a facilitator of learning. I try to set the stage for
learning to take place by creating an informal, stimulating and
creative environment. I have found that where there is interest
and motivation without fear of condemnation, there is most often
learning taking place. This is especially true in elementary
classrooms, where I believe motivation is critical for success.
Maintaining a balance of intrigue and victory provides a nice structure
for students to achieve mastery of skills and an appreciation for
learning.
I view each student as an individual and honor
different learning styles, abilities and frustrations with sensitivity
and respect. This is where patience, differentiated instruction
and accommodation become
integral components of my teaching style. I believe in
support and encouragement for all of my students.
In order to implement my philosophy, I try to be an
example. I share my own views and experiences. I relate to my students
how I have changed
as a person and continue to grow, thus providing them with a reason to
take risks. I also prepare many different
types of lessons and challenge them to be able to justify their
beliefs. I encourage my students to look for and appreciate the
elegance of their everyday worlds.
When I first began teaching, I modeled my teaching
style after a mixture of good professors and teachers I had. Over
the years, I have gained confidence, experience through teaching and
professional development, and mostly I have learned from my students
ways to improve my teaching. I continue to look for and develop
innovative methods to reach my students
Back to the top
Melanie Lewis
OBJECTIVE:
FUTURE GOALS:
SUMMARY:
EDUCATION:
LEADERSHIP
EXPERIENCE:
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:
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To better my
skills as
Technology Resource Teacher
• To
obtains a position as an
Instructional Technology Division Supervisor
• To teach
courses in Technology
Integration at the college level
• To be a
part of the development of
a Biblically based teacher mentor program for a private
institution
• Teacher
certification for Elementary
Education.
• Master Teacher for National Teacher
Training Institute.
• Technology
representative for Madison Heights Elementary.
• Technology
Technology Resource Teacher
for Amherst County
• Public
School Classroom Experience for
Amherst County, grades 2 &3
• Head
Start Experience for Lynchburg
Community Action Group, Lead Teacher, preschool
• Private
School Classroom Experience for
Gold Coast Christian, Ft. Laud., FL, gr. 1
Bachelor of Arts in Elementary
Education,
May 1985
Liberty University, Lynchburg
Virginia
Follow-up
Graduate Level Courses
taken through my division include:
- Using Technology to address
Multiple
Intelligences (EDUC 589)
- NETS*T Certification (earned
Fall 2006)
Masters in Educational Administration from Liberty University started
January 2006, courses
taken in this degree include:
- Theory of Educational
Administration
(EDUC 640)
- School Finance (EDUC 548)
TTI Master Teacher, August 2003 to Present
Blue
Ridge Public Television, Roanoke,
Virginia
• I
have published four SOL content lessons integrating technology
• Co-taught
workshops on digital storytelling, palm pilot, kidspiration,
inspiration, and I-Movie
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Participated
in workshops that concentrated on integrating SOLs into
project-based learning
County
Technology Representative, August 2002 to April 2005
Madison Heights Elementary, Madison
Heights, Virginia
• Provided
various technology training on both a school and county level Specific workshops include:
Marco
Polo
Inspiration
Accelerated Math
NTTI
based lessons
United Streaming
Mambo
Web Quests
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Digital
photography
Powerpoint
Harcourt online
River Deep
Think.com
Excel
Creating Webpages
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• Worked
in collaboration with school and county personnel to update school’s technology plan
• Created
and chaired a Technology Mentor program at Madison Heights to better enhance
technology
integrated lessons using a “train the trainer” approach
• Responsible
for maintaining the school website
• I
serve as front line technology maintenance and am familiar with
Macintosh and
PC computers
• I am
familiar with and use all county software
Every year my students participate in various project based technology
tasks integrated into content lessons. Tasks have included but
are not
limited to:
Online
ABC book dedicated to a Title I Teacher
Digital Story Telling Project
Jason Project
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Online
research project on dinosaurs
Monster Exchange Project
Various webquests and virtual tours
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