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My name is Donna Marie Neuman. I teach sixth through eighth grade English at Beresford Middle School in Beresford, South Dakota where I have been for ten years.

My journey into the 21st Century learning skills has been interesting. Our district is also studying differentiated instruction, which I've found totally relates to each other, and sometimes I get a little overwhelmed and confused. It's easy to think that one method will solve all the issues with learning in the classroom and difficult when some things don't work. I find that my "native" speakers don't have the same skill sets as each other and have had to suspend some of my traditional rules to allow my classroom to change and let the students teach each other. The atmosphere in my classroom is incredibly important. My students need to feel safe enough to know something others don't and willing to learn from each other. It is interesting and a totally different classroom than I grew up in. I would like to say that I totally get it. What I'm learning from facebooking my teenage niece and talking with my students during down time at school and outside of school is that I have plenty to learn and realize that thinking outside the box now includes thinking outside of the room I'm in. The purpose of this wiki is to chronicle my journey and maintain my information. Hopefully, the information I have will be useful to others too.