Dear Mary Stoyko,

 I am naming this blog: "Dear Mary Stoyko." I had the privilege to get to know her, when she was a student in my fourth grade class. In the past few years, she and I became reacquainted via Facebook. It turns out that she has become a magnificent educator, having mastered team teaching along with her special STEAM (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) curriculum, using hands-on learning, along with fully integrated lessons. In short, she teaches the whole child. She is now working to attain her administrator credential.

I was, what I consider, a good teacher, but not great. Organizing has always been one of my foibles. I am fortunate that Mary esteems me far greater than I probably deserve. But I did love my students, and got to know them very well. I also used my ongoing desire to learn to be able to analyze what my students' needs were and to prescriptively design lessons to meet their needs.

So this blog will consist of memories and anecdotes of what I did for my kids in the classroom. I hope that you, as well as Mary, will appreciate what I have done.

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