All About MeParent/Teacher Philosophy
I wanted to take this opportunity to make my philosophy of parent/teacher communication clear. If you are on this website, I assume that you must care about your child's education. I care about your child's education, as well. I believe that parents should be involved and support their children. Remember, they are children. They need our help. I make it clear to my students that I do not call home to get them in trouble. They put themselves in the "trouble" situation. I am only here to help.
You will receive contact from me in the form of a phone call, an e-mail, or a duplicate "Parent/Teacher Communication" form. Your child will be given the blue copy and will be expected to show this to you. You will need to sign it and return it to me by the date given. Please call or e-mail me if you have any questions about what I have written on the form.
I will do my best to contact you when there is a problem, with good news, or when I have a question for you. I hope that you will do the same.
I look forward to working with you this year and collaborating with you on the education of your child.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gajda
All About Me
Name: Shirli Gajda (pronounced Guy-duh) --Just in case you have been around long enough, my maiden name was Kubiak
Main Brain Color: YELLOW (check out the brain color stuff through my main page---I am loving it!)
School: Middle School North Grade Level: 7th
Subject: Literature and Language Arts and Volleyball Coach
Professional Bio: This is my 15th year of teaching and my 11th year in Lake Zurich. I love it here! I grew up in a small town in Central Illinois called Chenoa (only has 2000 people) and went to Illinois State University to become a teacher. My first job was in Odell, Illinois (another tiny town) where I worked for 4 years as a Reading Specialist, Cheerleading Sponsor, and Volleyball Coach. After moving here, I received my Masters Degree from Northern Illinois University. Teaching has been all I have ever wanted to do. I am currently living my childhood dream!
Family: My family consists of the following:
My
Nephews Hayden and Charlie
My
Nephews Evan and Ryan
My
Mom (a
blue retired teacher) and Dad (a very
green
engineer)
My
Cat (Honey) who is nuts!!!! (she is totally
orange)
My
sister Chris (blue
and yellow),
Me (yellow),
and my sister Cari (orange) 
My Husband Paul (yellow
architect)
Interests: Squirrels, movies, music, reality tv (I know, I know, but I love it), traveling, reading, golf, volleyball (I play and coach), tennis, running (you will see a few of us teachers running around the nearby subdivisions, and much more (just ask).
Dislikes: repeating myself unnecessarily, wasting time when you could be working on something, not taking responsibility for your own actions, using "a lot" as one word (it is two), when others don't leave things as they found them....check out the "Pet Peeve" poster in my classroom :)
Volleyball Bio:
Odell Grade School (1994-1998)--
--4 years as Girls Volleyball Coach--one year I took the team to Sectionals---one game short of going to the State Tournament
Lake Zurich Middle School North (1998-Present)--
--2003/04 and 2004/05 8th Grade Boys Volleyball Coach
--2005/06 6/7th Grade Girls Volleyball Coach (we were 1st in our Conference for the season and ended up getting 2nd in the Conference Tournament---excellent season!!)
--2006/07 6/7th Grade Girls Coach (we were 2nd in our Conference for the season and ended up getting 3rd in the Conference Tournament)
--The best season so far was the 2007/08 season where my team had a 13-0 record going into the Conference Tournament. We exited the Tournament in
1st place with a perfect record of 16-0 overall!!
--This year I am following my team up to 8th grade. We are hoping to keep our record strong.
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to Mrs. Gajda's Home Page
Page Sponsor: Dr. Nate Carter
Webmaster: Jeff Platt
Author: Shirli Gajda
Created: 27 October 2004
Updated:
11/06/2008