Meet the Teacher Monday

Hi everybody, I'm participating in the Meet the Teacher link up at Blog Hoppin'.

Tell us a little something about you...

My name is Michelle Walker and I live in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I was born in beautiful Cape Town and moved to PE when I was 12 years old. I attended High School at Alexander Road High and completed a Bachelors of Primary Education degree at the University of Port Elizabeth (now known as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University or NMMU!). I am married to a kind, gentle man and have 2 stepsons (Bradley, 23 and Dane, 15) and a gorgeous, intelligent 3 year old daughter, Keira, who makes us all laugh! I love every minute we spend together and am learning so many new things about myself through the time I spend with her.

How long have you been teaching?

My gorgeous Keira!

Well, my first teaching post was a combined Grade 1 and 2 class in a small town, Jeffreys Bay, about an hour from Port Elizabeth. I only taught there for a year as I missed my family and friends dreadfully! I was then offered a Grade 2 position at a private school in Port Elizabeth. I taught Grade 2 and Art at Theodor Herzl for almost 16 years before my daughter was born. I am a teach-a-holic and despite the odd wobbly (let's face it...we all have these!) I LOVED my years in the classroom and was so worried about leaving my classroom in the care of someone else while on maternity leave! Well, suffice it to say, I soooo fell in love with my new baby that I never returned to my beloved classroom. (And I don't regret it for a minute!) I now teach extra (intervention) Maths to a handful of sweet children from Grades 2-7 from my home in the afternoons. I also help 2 children with their homework everyday....and try to run my small business Creative Classroom in the mornings and evenings between making snacks, meals, running to potties, reading stories, playing tea parties, shopping, laundry, play dates...and everything else that comes with being a wife and mommy!


You might not know...
Pretty much everything, I guess, as I am so new to the blogging world! So to begin with a few tidbits! When I arrived home from school after my first day in Grade 1, I announced that I was going to become a teacher...and that thought never changed (except for when I thought I might like to be a brain surgeon!...despite not being able to stand the sight of blood!) I think I was born with teacher genes! Everywhere I go, everything I see is a potential lesson, or sparks an idea for one! 
I am a keen traveller, although I haven't had much chance for it since I married and became a mom. I have been to the USA twice (California, Las Vegas and Washington DC), Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, Europe, the UK and Israel..as well as extensive travels around South Africa as a child on family holidays and as a student. As a student I also travelled to Mozambique, Swaziland and Namibia. 
My two favourite places on earth are Jubilee Creek in the Knysna Forest, South Africa, and Venice! I have to get back to Venice one day!

What are you looking forward to most this year? 
Here in South Africa we are already at the midpoint of our year...but I am looking forward to getting my blog "out there" to South African teachers and those internationally. The edublogging concept has not yet caught on in SA and I hope to be starting a trend here as I can see what a terrific community support it can be and I have learnt so much from the blog hopping I have done to date!

What do you need to improve?
My 'getting down to serious work routine'! I have become a blog and FB addict and have to learn to put aside those things and get down to the work that brings in the income!

What teaching supply can you not live without? 
Sharp HB (No.2) pencils and a soft white eraser! I am one of those exceedingly anal people that will only write in my diary/notebooks with a pencil!! I think if we could get 'Sharpies' in SA I would probably love those too!  And my trusted Apple Mac...I don't know what I ever did before my husband introduced me to all things Apple!

Well that's it from me for now! Keep following...and hop on over to Blog Hoppin' to tell us more about you! 

Have a great Monday!
Michelle