Living History with Mrs Brownell

I began teaching fourth grade in 2006 in a rural school distract in upstate New York. All these years later, I am still passionate about fourth grade, and in that time I have honed my craft and become a Master of 4th grade content. In the latter half of my teaching career our grade level departmentalized, which allowed me to focus my teaching in the areas in which I have the greatest enthusiasm - English Language Arts, Reading, and Social Studies. Through the move to departmentalization I have been able to dive deep within the content that I teach so that I can provide students and teachers with high quality content reflecting years of experience, craft, and attention to detail. I strive to bring a cross-curricular thematic approach to my teaching, so that I can immerse students in the culture of the content by providing students with a variety of opportunities to read, write, interact, and think about content. I have taught in an integrated co-teaching classroom since 2010 with my "work wife" of over ten years. We strive to create lessons and resources which can be easily differentiated to meet the needs of all learners. Evey lesson that I publish has been implemented in my classroom, reflected upon, and improved, in order to develop the highest standard of quality materials. In 2016 I completed my RYS 200 and became a Yoga teacher. I integrate yoga and mindful practices into my classroom on a regular basis, I provide yoga instruction to other classrooms in my school throughout the week, and teach adult classes as well.

I believe in bringing a hands on interactive approach to the classroom. I have a deep and abiding passion for providing students with opportunities to experience "Living History" though interaction with historic documents, locations, artifacts, simulations, and hands on activities. Each summer I organize and direct a Living History Summer Institute, in which students are immersed in local history related to the American Revolutionary War. This week long program culminates in a 24 hour immersive 18th Century experience, with students spending the night an an authentic 18th Century encampment at a local Battle Field State Historic Site. I believe that students learn in a meaningful way through play, interaction, engaging storytelling, and direct experience. I try to bring these qualities into the lessons that I teach every day to make content alive and meaningful to my learners. I believe in holding high expectations for all of my students. I challenge students to think actively about what we are learning, make connections to their own lives and experiences, and push them to grow as writers and thinkers. My philosophy is that children won't remember everything that they read or heard from their teachers, but they will never forgot the things that they did when they were truly engaged in learning for the sheer joy of it. I hope that I can help bring some joy into your classroom.

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I hold New York State Professional Certifications in Elementary Education and Special Education. I completed my undergraduate degree at the College of Saint Rose with a Dual Major in Elementary Education and Special Education with a concentration in English. I have a Masters in Reading, which I received from the State University of New York at Albany. In 2016 I completed my RYS 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Program through Yoga Vidya.

In addition to being a busy full time teacher and part time yoga teacher, I am also a full time Mom to two amazing daughters. They are often my first test subjects when working on a new lesson idea, and have been gracious enough over the years to allow me to drag them to every National, State, and Local historic site that I could think of.