Information/graphics provided here not for republication

thevirtualvine.com 2001

A Little About Me ...

My name is Cindy and I'm a Special Education teacher.  I've been teaching Special Education for 26 years and I couldn't imagine having another occupation.  The children are never boring.  I love watching them learn ... and they say the funniest things! :D  I also love teaching reading and math.

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.  As of this year, due to budget cuts, I will no longer have an assistant ... but I taught the first 16 years without one, so I hope I'll be able to manage.   I provide Inclusion/resource/ tutorial services for kindergarten, first, and second grade.  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 29 years.   We have a wonderful, 26 year old daughter, Brittney, a sweetie-pie son-in-law and our first grandchild, Dakota.   So now I'm a CiCi and Dakota is CiCi's special little girl.  Our 10 year old Jack Russell, Bailey, had to be put to sleep Mar. 23, 2009 due to health complications and we still miss her dearly.  We also 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 Dakota! :)  There's an online photo album, so you can stop by there to see pictures if you're interested.  I also have another website, The Teacher's Bookbag, that's my online "hobby" where I sell teachers' resource materials.  So I have PLENTY of things now to keep me busy! :)

So as you can see, with all that, sometime in the near future I will probably retire from teaching.  Everyone keeps telling me that you'll know when the time is right.  I know I'm going to teach at least one more year and we'll see how this year goes.  I still love teaching the children, but I also want to make sure that I leave on a high note and not with a shove out the door! :)

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