Laurie+Farina-+English+Language+Arts

Laurie Farina: English Language Arts

I have always wanted to be a teacher. Well, actually until eleventh grade I was going to be a ballet dancer. But a knee injury and an excellent role model in my eleventh grade English teacher changed my mind. (Mrs. Firdomalva, if you're out there, THANKS!) So I decided to combine some things I love; reading and writing, with something I seem to do fairly well, teaching.

My educational background includes an undergraduate degree in English and Education from Suny Potsdam and a masters degree in Reading from Suny Albany. I have continued my professional education by learning more about Backwards Design and Differentiated Instruction as well as improving student literacy achievement with The Center on English Learning & Achievement. Two summers ago I became a writer and participated in the National Writing Project summer institute at the Capital District Writing Project at SUNY Albany. This experience has immeasurably changed my teaching by helping me realize the true value of the writing process and how to implement it in my classroom in a meaningful way.

I began substitute teaching straight out of college in my hometown of Brewerton, NY, on beautiful Oneida Lake in central New York. Then I took a one year position high on the plateau at Camden High School where I worked with an excellent English Department and helped develop an interdisciplinary curriculum in ninth grade social studies and English classes. With two years under my belt, I looked for greener pastures. The excellent program at SUNY brought me here to Albany where I completed my degree. For six years I had the pleasure of teaching seventh and eighth graders at Ichabod Crane Middle School in picturesque Columbia County. The students and excellent colleagues there challenged me to improve my teaching skills each year. I had a particularly delightful experience working with my colleague across the hall in social studies creating interdisciplinary units. That is, of course, when it wasn't snowing!

And that brings me to Niskayuna. Literally. I have enjoyed teaching at Iroquois for six years. As you will see from the rest of this wiki, there are many tremendously talented and devoted teachers here that I am proud to call my colleagues. As part of my other school duties I am one of the advisors for our school TV station, WIRO, and founder of our parent/ teacher/ student book club, Survivor.

Spare time? Hmm... well, on any given day you might find me createing handmade crafts such as cards or scrapbooking. But my three year old son doesn't leave me much time for that! Of course, my favorite thing to do is read. Romance, mystery, Stephen King and science fiction are my favorites. And I try to keep in touch with what my students are reading, there are some great Young Adult authors out there! I am also actively involved in my church choir.