Can you tell this is Mrs. Hodaba?:
This is her third grade picture!
GRADE / CLASS:
Grade 3 / Room 20
SCHOOL PHONE:
486-4960 (To speak directly with Mrs. Hodaba call before 8:00 AM and after 3:00 PM.)
Mrs. Hodaba is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz and the University of New
England. Mrs. Hodaba worked in Special Education inclusion classes
from 1989 to 2007. This year she will begin co-teaching with Special Educator,
Ms. Servedio. She also has 10 years experience teaching gifted education in
the M.O.R.E. program where she worked as the adviser for Overlook
Elementary's school newspaper when it was a K-5 school and on a Literary
Magazine for Arthur S. May Elementary. In addition, Mrs. Hodaba has worked at
Vassar's Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG) and piloted her own program for
gifted education called Innovations.
Mrs. Hodaba began teaching at Arthur S. May Elementary in 1998 where she
taught grades 3, 4, and 5. She also taught the Before School Program
preparing fourth and fifth grade students for state testing for eight years.
Mrs. Hodaba coordinates the UNICEF drive, runs the Mother's Day Plant Sale for
the PTA, and is the community contact for Gabriel's Library, a special church
group's project to put books in the hands of all students!
Mrs. Hodaba is teaching teachers! She has worked with the Arlington School
District to provide classes for teachers on various aspects of Differentiated
Instruction. She gives teachers the tools to meet the needs of every student
within their classroom! She also taught teachers at several regional
conferences, SDE's (Staff Development for Educators) Northeastern Regional
Conference, Grades K-3, NYSCATE's Hudson Valley Conference, and SDE's upcoming
Conference for New England Kindergarten Teachers.
Mrs. Hodaba serves as a member of the Arlington Central School District's RTI
Steering Committee. RTI stands for Response to Intervention the federally
mandated process of providing interventions that insure that every child may
learn and be successful!
Mrs. Hodaba is a founding member of Arlington's Technology in Curriculum
Collaboration Group. In this role, she develops new ways to work
with our curriculum using technological tools while providing students with
opportunities to collaborate with other students across the district. It
is an exciting venture!
Mrs. Hodaba's newest project is serving as the Literacy Leader for Grades 3-5
at ASM. In this role, she will be receiving training from the Aussie group
(http://www.aussiepd.com/) to further improve her reading and writing
instruction while piloting a new reading series that is being tested for
possible implementation district-wide. (Two other reading series are also
being piloted by other teachers.)
This year, Mrs. Hodaba is proud to be one of the Special Education classes
to start co-teaching with Ms. Servedio. This partnership will make a dynamic
difference in the classroom providing a lower student-teacher ratio when
providing services for students. Since collaboration is proven to improve the
quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, Mrs Hodaba and Ms. Servedio
are excited to be working together and look forward to a GREAT year!
Mrs. Hodaba has a wide range of personal interests. She is an avid reader.
As her students will tell you, if Mrs. Hodaba doesn't have time to read
every day, she gets cranky! Mrs. Hodaba is also a storyteller, a writer, a
musician (flute, piano, and dulcimer), a poet and songwriter, a seamstress,
an artist, and an avid gardener. She has two children: Matthew who is
working as a computer programer and Tina, a graduate of Duquesne University
with a dual major in Music Education and Music Therapy. Tina is a Music
Therapist who works with clients with autism, Down's Syndrome, and other
special needs. Mrs. Hodaba's husband, Pete, works at IBM but is looking
forward to retirement.
Mrs. Hodaba's goals are as varied as her interests. First and foremost, she
wants to make learning fun for every child. She wants every kid to feel
success and the POWER that comes from learning well. Mrs. Hodaba wants to
continue to share that goal with other teachers. In this role, she is
constantly reading, researching, and attending professional development to
become the best teacher she can possibly be!
In addition, Mrs. Hodaba wants to be a published author and songwriter. Mrs.
Hodaba would love to make travel a priority with her husband, Pete, because
most of all, Mrs. Hodaba needs to learn how to RELAX!!! What most people
don't realize is that Mrs. Hodaba plays every day. Everything she does has a
creative aspect that feeds her soul.