INTRODUCTION
My name is Caitlin Christmas and I received my degree in English Education from Western Illinois University in the Fall of 2013, along with my Middle School Endorsements in English Language Arts and Music. For my first semester of block teaching, I taught an 11th grade English III class at West Prairie High School in Sciota, IL. In this class, we focused on ACT preparation and short stories geared towards getting students ready to take their ACT test. My second semester of block teaching was at Edison Elementary School with a 6th grade class in Macomb, IL. This class was a Language Arts class, with most of my block time spent teaching the Civil Rights Movement. For Student Teaching, I was placed in Lewistown High School in Lewistown, IL. I eventually took over all of my mentor teacher's classes midway through my 12-week placement and accepted all the responsibilities of being a full-time English teacher. I substitute taught full time between two high schools and tackled my most challenging assignment yet - teaching computer concepts and accounting. While I had no previous experience teaching these subjects, I had learned a lot from the experience and I look forward to using my new technological knowledge to advance my lessons in the English language classroom. In college, I found myself helping many of my sorority sisters with resume writing and editing, which in turn encouraged me to pursue a degree in English Education. While attending college, I also assisted one of the English faculty members with editing and critiquing her Freshman and Sophomore college student papers. During my high school years, I always volunteered to be a "backstage mom" for my local dance recitals, where I chaperoned groups of children ages 3-13 years old. I taught them vocabulary, reading skills, and helped them with homework while they waited backstage for their turn to perform on stage for their parents. I also used to babysit a lot while I was in junior high and high school, eventually babysitting for my principal in high school. I have a love for informational texts and I can't wait to share that love and passion with my students, especially considering the shift from fictional to more informational texts in the common core standards. Teaching is very near and dear to my heart and I have wanted to be a teacher since my Freshman year of high school. I look forward to not only teaching, but also coaching, helping out with the theater and music programs, and cheering on my students during their extra-curricular activities!