Karen Orgain Smith
Odessa,Texas
Summary
I am a creative and energetic Early Childhood Education professional dedicated to offering diverse activity plans and experiential learning opportunities to enhance individual development. Friendly, supportive and motivated with strong desire to promote student potential. Offering 39 years of experience with passion for building strong rapport with faculty, scholars. and families.
Overview
40
40
years of professional experience
Work History
Pre-K Teacher
McCamey ISD
08.2017 - 05.2022
- Developed detailed lesson plans.
- Met scholars where they were academically and challenged them.
- Allowed scholars to have a voice in making appropriate decisions.
- Gave one-on-one consideration to scholars while maintaining overall focus on entire group.
- Scholars were skilled in foundational skills such as phonics, phonemic awareness, sight words shapes, numbers, introduced to simple addition and subtraction.
- Incorporated physical, academic, and social development by providing diverse classroom and outside activities.
- Implemented behavior modification strategies, resulting in improved self-regulation and classroom participation among students.
- Promoted social-emotional development with interactive lessons.
- Observed children to identify individuals in need of additional support and developed strategies to improve assistance.
- Boosted student engagement by incorporating hands-on activities and group projects.
- Fostered a love of learning among students by maintaining an energetic teaching style and incorporating creative, interactive elements into daily lessons.
Kindergarten Teacher
Carlsbad Municipal School District
08.1982 - 05.2016
- Built confident relationships with scholars, families, and co-workers for safe, trusted learning support.
- Delivered lesson plans, implemented school curriculum and used data to create, monitor, and establish personalized learning plan for scholars with challenges.
- Increased parent involvement through regular communication, parent-teacher conferences, and programs.
- Promoted learning through play with engaging activities, games and lessons.
- Created a positive environment for learning by combining small groups, one-on-one instruction, using manipulatives, and hands-on activities.
- Utilized assessment data to modify instruction and target areas of weakness for individual students.
- Enhanced classroom management by establishing structure, clear expectations, rules, and routines.
- Created a safe and nurturing classroom environment that promoted emotional well-being and academic growth for all students.
- Collaborated with colleagues to share resources, brainstorm ideas, and problem-solve challenges faced in the classroom environment.
- Implemented differentiated instruction strategies to meet the diverse learning needs of all students.
Education
Master of Education - Early Childhood Education
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ07.2013
Master of Education - Elementary Education
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ04.2010
Master of Arts - Teaching
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ08.2005
Bachelor of Science - Elementary Education
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, NM05.1982
High School Diploma -
Roswell High School
Roswell, NM05.1977
Skills
- Patience and Empathy
- Social Skills Development
- Music and Movement
- Curriculum Planning
- Health and safety
- Parent-Teacher Communication
- Group and individual instruction
- Fine Motor Skills
- Artistic Expression
- Motor Skill Development
- Cultural Sensitivity
- Classroom Management
- Differentiated Instruction
Timeline
Pre-K Teacher
McCamey ISD
08.2017 - 05.2022
Kindergarten Teacher
Carlsbad Municipal School District
08.1982 - 05.2016
Master of Education - Early Childhood Education
Grand Canyon University
Master of Education - Elementary Education
Grand Canyon University
Master of Arts - Teaching
Grand Canyon University
Bachelor of Science - Elementary Education
Eastern New Mexico University
High School Diploma -
Roswell High School
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