Welcome to ELA 7 Breed students!
My name is Sarah Phelan, but you can call me Mrs. Phelan – I’m a married woman, and my husband wouldn’t like it if you called me “Sarah.” 
I am 40 years old; I have been married for 17 years; and I have two kids, Peter, 13, and Anna, 11 who both go to Pickering. This will be my fourth year at Breed Middle School and I consider myself lucky to be a teacher. I write professionally as a novelist and a journalist. I have published two books and hundreds of articles in local newspapers. My job, as your teacher, is to use my experience and my knowledge of all of those little tips and tricks to help you improve your writing.
I am 40 years old; I have been married for 17 years; and I have two kids, Peter, 13, and Anna, 11 who both go to Pickering. This will be my fourth year at Breed Middle School and I consider myself lucky to be a teacher. I write professionally as a novelist and a journalist. I have published two books and hundreds of articles in local newspapers. My job, as your teacher, is to use my experience and my knowledge of all of those little tips and tricks to help you improve your writing.
As a seventh grader, you are taking your first real steps away from being an elementary school student and moving onto the world of high school. This is a big shift for you, and my job is to help you with that transition. As a teacher, I want to help you figure out what kind of learner you are, so that we can work together towards mastering the 7th grade standards. In my class, I like to create a community of learners, but that community must be based on respect, for you as a learner, as well as for me as a teacher. We will build trust together, so that you may do your best work.
Seventh grade is your second experience with the MCAS Long Write as well. You can expect that in the the first few weeks of school, as we begin to build our community of learners, you will be learning about how a seventh grader is expected to write for the Long Write composition. In addition to some diagnostic testing, we will be looking at samples of seventh grade work, so that you may see where you stand currently, and so that we can make a plan together to be sure you are on track to ace your Long Write topic.
We are based out of a computer lab, so in order to use the lab more effectively, I will also need to gauge your computer literacy and typing skills. We will be using the computers to blog, research, write, edit, share, and create in ways that you will be able to use in high school, college, and career. These literacy skills are an important part of the present and future of work, and I will do my best to help you improve.
We also are working on creating after school programs to help students keep themselves on track with, or get a jump on, the work ahead of you this year. Once a week, students will be invited to spend an hour with the ELA teachers working on grammar and vocabulary games, catching up on homework, or getting extra help with writing assignments.
My commitment to you as your teacher is to help you find ways to improve upon your reading, writing, and comprehension skills by providing you with the support that you need. I do my best to personalize the learning for you as my student, and I look forward to spending time in class with you, and most importantly, reading your writing!
