I want to thank all of you for helping to make my ninth year at Burroughs School so happy and rewarding. As you know, I spent seventeen years teaching in an inner city school where the parent involvement was minimal. Many of my students  came to school each day with a myriad of problems because of dysfunctional home lives. I worked very hard to be a stable, loving person in their lives and received a great deal of satisfaction, knowing that I had positively impacted their development. I believed that each child could learn regardless of their home environments and every day they proved me right. It was difficult for me to make a change, but I knew that in a school like Burroughs, I would be able to work hand in hand with parents to positively affect my children 's growth. How refreshing that would be! I was ready for that new challenge. Of course I still believe that each child can learn, but now I realize that "one size does not fit all" and children need differentiated instruction. I tell my students the first day of school, that if I didn't have high expectations for each and everyone of them, then I wouldn't be doing my job. They all know what I expect and they all reach for the stars regardless of their academic levels. It gives me so much joy to watch them grow each day.  I am so fortunate to be a teacher at Burroughs and to have parents in my room who have become my partner in their child's education.