Rachael Nichols - Math Teacher - Certified 6 - 12

Summary

I have been working in the same school system for the past 11 years teaching 7th grade math and advanced math. I also teach a literacy strategies class that focuses on reading skills specific to the field of mathematics. It is a wonderful school system that I was so fortunate start out in, and I would never leave it if we were not moving. I also love teaching 7th graders because they have that sweet mixture of still being little kids, but at the same time are really starting to develop more of their adult personality. I would be so happy to continue with 7th graders, but would also love the opportunity to try something new as I have been working with the same age group for my entire teaching career. I especially love Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus, and would love to have an opportunity to teach that material some day.

Work experience

7th grade math teacher

Aug 2004 - May 2016

Berry Middle School - Hoover City Schools

Teach three section of regular math, one section of advanced math, and reading inclusion classes consisting of mainstream, ESL, and special education students
Participate in an RTI Problem-Solving Team to monitor and evaluate students so that their individual needs are met through differentiated learning opportunities
Analyze data from standardized tests as well as formative assessments to guide lesson planning and pacing of units
Conduct student-led conferences and guide students to set personal educational goals to foster ownership and accountability
Integrate one-to-one technology using Google Classroom and other Google Apps to implement curriculum and communicate with students, parents, and guardians
Co-sponsored the ultimate frisbee club
Co-sponsor of First Priority

Nursery Director

Jun 2013 - Apr 2016

Flint Hill Baptist Church

Create a schedule for workers in the nursery
Purchase all supplies needed for the nursery
Make sure that workers show up as scheduled and that the nursery is left clean at the end of each service
Work closely with the office staff to make sure an extra events are correctly staffed
Helped select and implement a new security system for checking in children

Education

Master of Arts in Education

Jun 2004 - May 2006

University of Alabama at Birmingham

I completed a 5th year masters program to get my masters in education while simultaneously spending my first 2 years in the classroom working under an emergency certification.

Bachelor of Science in Mathematics

Aug 1999 - May 2003

Samford University

For my undergraduate I pursued a math major with a minor in Spanish. I initially started out in math education, but early in the education program in speaking with one of my advisors I ended up deciding to pursue my major in just straight mathematics and then going on to pursue a 5th year masters after finishing up my undergraduate.

Skills

Bilingual

When I was a child my parents were called into missions, and as a result I spent most of my childhood and teenage years living overseas. We spent the first year in Costa Rica, and then after that lived in Venezuela. As a result I speak fluent Spanish and have a good understanding of Latin culture.

Teaching through investigation

I spent two weeks of my summer for two summers (2010 and 2011) doing a training with the Greater Birmingham Math Partnership on recognizing patterns and how they apply to algebra. I use these pattern activities to give students opportunities to visualize some of the abstract concepts of algebra in both my literacy strategies and math classes.

Technology

I have a lot of experience working with application of technology in the classroom. These are some examples of the current technology that I am using in my classroom:

I keep an updated online agenda where I list all students assignments, upcoming quizzes and test, and provide links to digital copies of assignments for students in case they misplace them.
I use google classroom to post long term project assignments and post announcements for my class and videos that I record using my Ipad and a program called Doceri.
I also use Doceri to record my daily in class instruction and post those videos to a google folder that I share with my students so that anyone who is absent or just confused about what we did in class can go and watch me go through the class examples again.
I use Testmoz and Google forms to auto-grade certain assignments to give both the students and myself automatic feedback on what they have done.
I have also started using a Google form that allows me to push a few buttons and immediately generate an e-mail that notifies parents when a homework assignment is missed in my class.
The district I teach in also has a license for the IXL program, which I also use pretty extensively with students to help with review concepts as a bellringer activity at the beginning of class and also in conjunction with the current unit of study to help increase understanding.
I have started using the Goguardian program recently, which allows me to monitor what students are working on at all times to make sure that they are not off task, and it can also be used to send students private messages and open up certain URL's on all devices to help get everyone to the correct starting place for the in class activity.
Most recently I have started looking into the use of Screencastify to allow students to make and share videos explaining the material in the current unit to force them to deepen their understanding.

Interests

I am also a very driven, passionate person. My main pursuit outside of the classroom and my family has been my running. I just recently completed my 4th full marathon and have completed various half marathons, a triathlon, and a 100 mile bike ride with a group of friends. I am currently training for my first half Ironman race which I will be completing in June. At some point I would really like to get involved with sponsoring or co-sponsoring cross-country or track so that I can share some of that passion I have with my students.