Razzle Dazzle Learning

Ten years teaching elementary school grades K, 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th. Twenty years teaching middle school language arts/social studies in the 6th, 7th, 8th grades. I taught in New Mexico, Texas, and Alaska, and I've helped homeschool my two granddaughters. Over the last ten years I've been putting together all of the lessons and programs I developed over my thirty years of teaching. I now work on developing new student directed, independent learning materials so students can be challenged and successful learners.

To encourage independent learning by providing interactive lessons that include student directed guides and grading rubrics. Students should always know what the expectations are for an assignment, how it will be evaluated before they begin, and be challenged and enjoy the learning process. The grading rubrics make grading writing an even playing field, allow students to evaluate their own papers before turning them in to the teacher for the final grade, and greatly expedite the grading time for teachers. This translates into more time to spend with family, to pursue life's greatest pleasures, and to be less stressed and more creative teachers.

The most "Aha" moment ever, came when a 7th grade girl said to me, "Mrs. Darling, I understand so much more about writing, and do a much better job every since we started editing and grading our own essays."

BS Education University of New Mexico. Countless hours of graduate level courses in education.

All of the lessons I've developed promote independent, student directed learning. My writing and language arts curriculum relieves the stress of teaching by greatly reducing grading and paperwork time, and makes learning more productive, challenging, and less stressful for students. Teachers are constantly giving me positive feedback on the way my lessons take the paperwork out of teaching, and how much the students like being independent learners because they feel empowered. I am currently working on interactive writing and reading notebooks for middle school students. My three successful children and their spouses are wonderful parents, which makes me very happy. I have six beautiful grandchildren that fill my life up to the brim, and a supportive husband who is the love of my life and my best friend.