University of San Diego Introduction

My name is Tara Torok and I am very enthusiastic to be starting this educational journey with all of you! I graduated from Indiana University South Bend. My degree is in Elementary Education. I taught preschool for 7 years and was a paraprofessional for 2 years. After earning my degree I taught kindergarten for 1 year. I applied for the Art Teacher position at my school after learning that our school was going to be the first school in the district to become a STEAM/El Sistema school. After teaching art integrated with science I was offered a 3rd grade teaching position at a brand new project based learning school near my home. Our school is developing curriculum based on PBL and I am pursuing my master in STEAM to gain knowledge relating to this area. I love working and learning with our staff. We all work very hard for our students because we believe they are the future. Transitioning to teaching 3rd grade was a huge change and I am loving it! I really missed being with a group of students for more than 45 minutes at a time. Although I miss art, I am able to incorporate art in various ways in the clasroom.

Hello Everyone!

El Sistema program. Students play an hour each day. The instruments are free to all students.

My fellow co-workers developing investigable questions relating to the properties of water.

My former 6th graders working on geometric trees.

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