Introducing the lady that has 44 kids.
Ms. Caroline Apgar, the new 7th grade Language Arts teacher, says, laughing, that she does not take them all home. Instead she teaches all 44 7th graders at Mauro Sheridan. “Students always ask me if I have children. I tell them that I have 44, because that’s how many students I am responsible for at MASH.”
She says that she got lost going places because Mauro Sheridan School is so big! "It wasn't until November that I knew where Mrs. Lavorgna's office was."
She wasn’t only teaching at Mauro Sheridan. Before she taught at Beecher School in New Haven. There she taught 7th and 8th grade Language Arts for 2 years and Read 180 for 5 years.
Ms. Apgar was also a student recently. She graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2007 and just finished her Masters Degree in Reading in December at Southern CT. State University. She hopes to go back to school to become a principal.
She likes the performance tasks she does with her 44 kids. “I love the writing tasks we do because I think they are most interesting to students. The assignments have a real audience and let students pick topics to explore. Even though it means a lot of grading for me, I think this is the best way for students to apply what they learn.”
She also enjoys watching TV, and reading. She reads a lot of young adult books and likes the Hunger Games and the Ugly series. “I love getting book recommendations from students, and being able to recommend new books for them too.”
If she was not a teacher she says “I would be a writer. I would write books for kids.”
But she’s not an author. Instead she will keep teaching for her 8th year.