Hopple's Happenings

At

Lincoln Junior High School

Teacher Feature:

Karen Cox- My early years were spent in Huntington, IN. I was a struggling student until 8th grade. My grades were poor, my skills had major gaps, and I was not engaged in class. I had very little confidence in myself. Several things happened to cause a change in my success in school. First, we moved to Fort Wayne and the school environment was much more encouraging and nurturing. Secondly, my involvement in band helped me realize what it took to excel. Third, and probably most importantly, I had a language arts teacher named Mrs. Briggs who helped me catch up and fill in the gaps in my skills from my first seven years of school. In additon, I matured and realized the value of doing quality work. This combination of events allowed me to sign up for college prep classes for high school instead of the vocational track I was originally enrolled in. I know firsthand what a difference a school environment can make in the life of a student. As teachers, we are the ones who set the tone. “As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.”--Hiam Ginott

I am very thankful for the wonderful opportunities I have been given through our educational system in America and it has been my goal to be a teacher like Mrs. Briggs. She changed my life. Now I try to reach out to struggling students and give them a hand to catch up and strive for quality in their work. I try to encourage students to try harder. Often it works and it is a thrill to me when a student tells me that I made a difference in their life.

After high school, I got a scholarship to attend Indiana University in music. I was the first member of my family to go to college and I will never forget the pride my family expressed about me going to Indiana University. I was the first female to be a part of the IU Marching 100 band. As much as I loved my time at IU, I began to realize I was at the wrong school.

From the time I was very small, it was my goal to be involved in farming. I was raised in the city but I always felt so much more at home on my grandmother's farm. I transferred to Purdue where I majored in agriculture. There I met and married my dearest friend, David Cox. We owned and operated a dairy farm the first 12 years of our married life. We raised 3 daughters, Shawna, Amber, and Erin. David and I still maintain our roots in the agricultural community and we look forward to doing more on our farm in our retirement years.

While we were farming, the agriculture teacher at Rochester had a heart attack in November. I got hired to teach his classes for the remainder of the year. During this time I fell in love with teaching. I went back to school to become certified and then taught and coached girls' basketball for 9 years at Triton. I was at Warsaw for 2 years before coming to Plymouth in 1997. I have taught biology, middle school math and helped with the girls' basketball program since coming to Plymouth. Teaching is a joy for me and it does not seem like I have been teaching for 28 years already.

I have been involved in the state and national math organizations, ICTM and NCTM. I have been on the board for Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics and I was involved in developing the middle school math standards back in the early days. I think it is important to attend state and national conferences to share ideas with the top educators in the country. Collaboration locally with the other math teachers at Lincoln has been important to me as well.
Teaching math at LJH is my dream job. It is a real pleasure to teach with a staff of dedicated educators and to have such great students in my classroom. Thank you to each person at Lincoln for contributing to the quality of my world.

In my spare time I enjoy quilting, gardening and walking in our woods with my husband and my dog. My grandchildren are the joy of my life. I love doing church work and Bible study. I also enjoy following the hundreds of girls we coached in various sports through the years. We have some wonderful friendships from those times. I feel so honored to have all of these blessings. God has favored me in a mighty way. I am so thankful to Him.

Men are made stronger on realization that the helping hand they need is at the end of their own arm.  ~Sidney J. Phillips


A little bit of effort over a long period of time has more impact than cramming a large effort into a short period of time. ~Phillip Crone


                

Happy Birthday Wishes

Denise Ecker, Steve Miller, Carol Gilbert

Dates to Remember:

March 4th- Team/Dept. meeting 7:15am

March 5th- March 11th- Istep Testing

March 6th- Horizontal Meeting

March 10th- Time changes

March 12th- Five Star

March 13th- Faculty Meeting

March 15th- Spirit Assembly-Storm Team

March 18th- Riverside Visits

March 19th- Stat Meeting-7th grade 7:15 am

                      Stat meeting- 8th grade 3:15 pm

March 20th- Riverside Visits

March 22nd- End of third nine weeks.

Just A Thought. . . .

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”

- John C. Maxwell