Carissa Teff

A sixth grade English 015 certified educator; curriculum writer; anchor set developer; and classic literature enthusiast. I currently teach Grade 7 ELA. I work diligently to create and implement dynamic, rigorous, and enriching lessons that prompt discussion about complex global issues. I differentiate each lesson for student readiness abilities, interests, and learning profiles to promote higher student achievement and ameliorate weaknesses. I also utilize cooperative learning groups, jigsaws, and peer mentoring to promote positive socialization, increase student accountability, and foster a warm classroom climate. Through the use of alternative and traditional assessments, I evaluate my students’ understanding of content and their mastery of specific learning objectives. These evaluations not only allow me to help my students to achieve, but they allow me to engage in self-reflective practices that enable me to see the ways in which I can improve as a teacher. In Danbury, I was afforded the opportunity, as a first year teacher, to revamp, develop, and write the Grade 6 Writing Curriculum. Specifically, I have redesigned CCSS aligned units in argumentative, persuasive, and informational writing. Furthermore, I was selected by the Humanities Department Head and K-12 Humanities Curriculum Advisor to develop and create district resource anchor sets for teachers and the Danbury community to use in order to effectively evaluate student benchmark assessments with strong rationales and evidence as to how assessments are scored. While in the classroom, I was one of the first teachers to utilize Socratic Seminar as a technique to improve evidence-based argumentative claims and as a result, support the district’s focus area of improving argumentative writing scores. I have also maintained an out-of-classroom learning environment by using flipped classroom strategies to provide support to students at home.