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A Little About Me ...

Hi!  My name is Cindy and I'm a Special Education teacher and I love it!!  I can't imagine having another occupation.  Supposedly the burnout rate for a Special Education teacher is about 3 - 5 years ... well, I'm still going strong after 23 years!  However, I must admit, some of the new regulations and "No Child Left Behind" have increased the stress level and paperwork, among other things, and I'm not quite so excited about certain aspects of teaching anymore.  The sad thing is that it doesn't have anything to do with the lessening of the joys of teaching, the children, or the parents.  It's all due to paperwork, politics, and stress.  And it's hard sometimes to go in and try to "give it your best", when you know what you're having to do isn't what's really best for the child (in your opinion).

In the latter years, I've enjoyed teaching more than I did when I started and part of this was due to all the wonderful ideas and sharing between teachers that goes on here on the 'net.  That's one of the reasons I built this site; to help share the wealth of ideas and to give something back for all that I've received.

I have a BS and a Master's degree in Special Education and I'm currently teaching Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders in Mississippi.  I have an assistant and together we provide Inclusion or tutorial services for kindergarten, first, and second grade or our Day Treatment class.  In the past, I've taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders as well.  I've taught students with Learning Disabilities, Developmental Delays, Educable Mental Retardation, Language and Speech Impairments, Multiple Handicaps, Physical Disabilities, ADD/ADHD, Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, Asperger Syndrome, Bi-Polar disorders, ODD, behavior problems and Emotional Disabilities.

But, teaching isn't my WHOLE life.  I've been married to the same man for 26 years and we have a spoiled rotten Jack Russell Terrier named Bailey. We also have a wonderful, 23 year old daughter, Brittney.  Brittney's in her senior year of college majoring in Graphic Design.  She's been married for three years, so now we also have a sweetie-pie son-in-law and our first grandchild, Dakota.   So now I'm a CiCi and boy have we been waiting on her!!  Dakota is IT! :)  We also recently sold our home that we'd lived in for 20 years and bought a new home that had just been built.  Wow, what a lot of stress!!!  But we made sure to buy one big enough with a room for a nursery! :)  I recently added an online photo album to the site, so you can stop by there to see pictures if you're interested. 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed visiting The Virtual Vine and I hope you've found some things that you can use in your classroom.  Come back and visit often ....

Cindy