About MeMy name is Kirsten Cossano (Woldendorp), and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa. My family moved to Windhoek, Namibia in 1988, then Seattle, WA in 1999. I attended Skyline from 2000-2004, then went on to earn my Bachelor of Arts in English and my Masters of Education from the University of Washington. GO HUSKIES! I am a National Board Certified Teacher as of 2018. I currently live in Redmond with my husband Anthony and our two cats, Giggsy Megatron Woldendorp and Charlie Gatsby Woldendorp. We are expecting our first baby in April, 2020.
I love to travel, and have visited England, Scotland, France, Italy, Holland, South Africa, Namibia, the Comores, Mauritius, and traveled all over the United States. I adore Disneyland/World, and visit every year with my younger sister Lynsey. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, and decided on high school English as reading and writing are two of my passions. I hope that each of my students will be encouraged and maybe inspired by my love. My favorite book is F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which 11th graders will read this year. If you want to know anything else...just ask! I am extremely excited and proud to be returning to Skyline, and I look forward to working with each of you this year. |
Teaching Philosophy |
As an English teacher, I strongly believe that engaging students in meaningful and important work is essential to their learning. When I was a student in high school I had trouble connecting to most of the writings and readings I did. I always wondered why I was reading a novel, or why I had to write a certain essay. Through my time at the University of Washington, Bothell and in the teaching program, I have come to realize I need to be a teacher that can connect curriculum to the lives of my students. I understand that I need to meet state standards and mandates, and help my students become successful writers and readers. Linda Christensen’s Teaching for Joy and Justice has really shaped my beliefs and philosophies of learning and educating. I connected to many of the ideas and theories that she presented in the wonderful book that inspires teachers to re-imagine how they teach Language Arts. She wrote that “my teaching needs to serve multiple purposes: I help students learn to “talk back” to the world while I teach them how to write essays. I select multicultural novels, practice close reading, and root the lessons in students’ lives through narrative writing prompts” (Christensen, 2009, p 38). Teaching is not simply about transmitting knowledge or facts to my students, I must prepare them to be active citizens and ensure that they are able to communicate effectively.
I believe that students should be given ample time to write, whether it be educational writing or creative writing. I agree with Christensen when she said that “it is critically important that struggling writers get a big chunk of writing time in class where I’m on hand to help them” (Christensen, 2009, p 64). Students will not learn how to be good writers if they are not exposed to good writing practices. I want to implement writing workshops before each major work is submitted. In many of my courses at the University of Washington, Bothell I was given a chance to revise and rework a piece of writing if it was not up to the teachers standards. I would like to give my students to the opportunity to revise their writings if it is needed. Paolo Freire wrote that “my security is grounded on the knowledge, which experience confirms, that I am unfinished” (Freire, 1998, p 120). I believe what Freire is saying is that we are all in the process of becoming finished, and we are all learning and experiencing. Students and teachers are continuously learning, revising, receiving feedback. It is important for students to know that I do not expect them to be perfect writers, but I expect them to take my feedback and apply it to their works. I want to see a change or improvement in their works, and know that they have worked their hardest to become strong writers. |