Mission of Our Class - Upper Middle
- Develop a strong emphasis on identifying and using the innate strengths of these students to minimize and overcome their weaknesses.
- These students’ brains dramatically change and their academic progression must continuously change with them in terms of the level and conplexity of demands placed on them.
- Emphasize the accurate recognition and understanding of academic difficulties and find different succesful ways to mange them.
Desiree is the Lead Teacher of the upper level middle grade students. Sometimes in helping adolescents overcome their weaknesses, we neglect to detect and cultivate their strengths.
Yet, in an adult world, what counts most is the strength of an individual’s strengths. Every kid has strengths! They simply await discovery. This is what Desiree is especially good at doing. Because of their critical importance and enormous potential for redeeming adolescents, Desiree makes strength delineation and management a part of every educational plan for each of her students.
Their affinities—areas of knowledge toward which a student feels a strong attachment—are also vital. Desiree seeks to help each student’s affinities evolve into domains of expertise. She helps each one to be an expert at something because she knows that their affinities will not come forth and grow automatically. Instead, she knows her main job is to help them find and exploit their assets. Desiree has a gift for fostering experiential learning in his classroom and also strives to help the parents become close partners in educating their child.
Desiree graduated from Tennessee Tech University with a B.S. in K-12 Special Education degree. Her first teaching job was with the All Nations Camp as a volunteer counselor for 15 children who spoke English as a second language and 3 who only spoke Spanish.
The has a broad teaching backgound from work with the Tennessee Tech University Child Development Lab to the Putnam County Independence Program. She also has certificartion in CPR and First Aid.
She has worked with middle schoolers students in designing effective strategies to teach reading, conducted one-on-one phonics tutoring, and taught in a bible class for 30 children who spoke English as a second language. Desiree is married and lives in Cookeville.
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