My name is Gina Grosso, and I am currently in my fifth year as an English/Language Arts teacher. I spent the first three years of my career as a high school teacher, but I have to say I've found the last two years, as an 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Grover Cleveland Middle School in Caldwell, to be the most rewarding. As an undergrad, I could have never imagined being a middle school teacher, but surprisingly, middle school is so much different than I remembered it being when I was a thirteen year old. This might have something to do with the fact that I was looking at my middle school experience through a particularly thick pair of glasses and a 5'5", 72 pound frame. Middle school certainly does not hold my fondest set of memories, but teaching middle school is providing me with some very enlightening moments through an adult set of eyes. Adolescents are capable of so much more than people expect of them. They are thoughtful, reflective, creative, and still know how to not take themselves too seriously.
When I'm not trying to teach reading and writing, I spend my free time reading and writing myself. As an undergraduate at Montclair State University, I majored in English, but my concentration was in creative writing. So, I still like to think of myself as a writer, although I am not published yet. I've recently started dabbling in children's literature which I am in the process of sending out to publishers. Five years ago, I could have never seen myself writing for children, but that just proves that your vision of who you are and who you are becoming is always changing.
I also love to cook! I'm Italian, so food is a pretty big part of my life. I love trying new things, and even when I'm not totally successful, I enjoy the whole process of creating new ideas and new dishes. In a life that seems very far away, I also used to sing and act which I often miss doing and hope to get back into very soon. Born and raised in New Jersey, I have no choice but to be a huge Yankees fan. I also love spending time with my family and my fiancee who I am marrying in July.
I am taking this course as part of my masters program in Educational Leadership. I am excited to learn about curriculum since it is something that I am very interested in pursuing further study in. I am very interested in developing writing curriculum because writing is truly one of the hardest things to teach to children. I believe there is a lot of "unlearning" to do in the teaching of writing which sometimes turns into what Mike Schmoker calls the "Crayola curriculum".
I absolutely love teaching, and I can't imagine doing anything else, but in the future I can definitely see myself pursuing a job working with curriculum,as a supervisor of humanities, or as a building administrator. I am definitely interested in exploring all sorts of avenues into the educational world, and I would also love to teach a college class someday. In my school, I've been coordinating a teacher support group called "Teachers Helping Teachers", and it has been so rewarding to work with new teachers and veterans in pursuing growth as educators. It inspires me to want to work with students who would like to become teachers at some point in my life.
My favorite quote is "you must be the change you want to see in the world" by Mahatma Gandhi. It's the core of what it means to be an educator. The clip I'm sharing below really speaks to me as a teacher, as does Randy Pausch's book The Last Lecture. It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for something to inspire you.
