Greetings!

My name is Mrs. Slomiany and I cannot wait to have you in my classroom so we can have a fun and exciting time learning together!  A little bit about me:

I grew up just south of Detroit and moved to northern Michigan when I was 16- years old.  I moved to North Carolina 11-years ago and currently live in the Clayton area.  I love my family (which consists of four children, my husband, and our little Chihuahua).  We do enjoy the beach and the endless summers of North Carolina!  Although, pumpkin spice season is still my favorite time of year!  While this is interesting, I would like to give you a little more background about how I came to be here with you, a teacher at CvHS!

I think the first moment I knew I wanted to be a teacher was the day my dad brought home a chalkboard he had found at a second-hand store.  I was excited to use the colorful chalk he brought with it and draw, but I think my parents were excited to have a large visual way to help me stay organized!  It was at that moment that something clicked and I envisioned myself standing in front of a classroom "teaching".  Of course, I was five at the time and so my classroom consisted of my dolls and stuffed animals who were taught whatever lessons I deemed important that day.  Years later, my passion for teaching is still in my soul.

My love for reading and writing continued, but I did pause to take time out of teaching to stay home with my children.  Both of my amazing and incredible son's are adopted from South Korea.  During this time, I met with many active multi-cultural groups.  This experience was life changing, to say the least.  My first published work was due to this experience when the adoption agency reached out to me to ask me to write the story of my boys' adoption.  I was thrilled to do so and please to say that "We Believe In Miracles" was published in an anthology of adoptive parents stories.

I pursued my teaching degree at Central Michigan University where I received a Board of Trustees Honors Scholarship.  While at university, I was able to meet incredible people and professors who would inspire my teaching style and classroom management.  I strongly reflected on how to be the type of teacher that would inspire my students to "want" to work versus "having" to work.  After working diligently and striving to do the best I could in class myself, I was honored to be asked to help at the National Council of Teacher's of English national convention and lead a few sessions with one of my professors, Dr. Susan Steffel.   I graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Secondary Education Cum Laud with a Major in English (grades 6-12) and a Minor in Earth Science (grades 9-12) and Middle-Grade Sciences (grades 6-8). 

I have now been teaching in Johnston County for eleven years in the following capacity: 7th-grade Language Arts, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade English, Mass Media and Creative Writing. I started out at Cleveland Middle School and moved to Cleveland High School seven years ago, where I remain happy to be Cleveland Proud!  I am honored to have been able to work in different capacities for both our district and in other various roles in education. I continued my education with the county to receive my AIG certification, as well and additionally completed another 90-hours of training on holistic writing and completed the North Carolina certification of grading state EOC written responses.   I also was honored to be part of a team that wrote the curriculum for the AP level Creative Writing course offered online in the county.  Some of my other professional experiences include working for Sophia.org on many of their English quizzes and tutorials, and I have also been able to work for a company where I wrote and developed reading passages for the 8th grade South Carolina End of Grade test in Language Arts.

I also believe that students should be able to not just be told about what careers are available but use the skills taught in the courses. To do this I have been fortunate to find professionals who are happy and excited to donate their time.   For example, Clay Johnson is a professor at Duke who is also an Emmy Award winning documentary producer and works locally sometimes at WRAL.  He came in to speak to my Mass Media class.  I also have been so excited to welcome back Elizabeth S. Craig, a best selling author, come give writing workshops to my Creative Writing classes.  These connections make a difference in helping our student family make crucial connections with their learning out side the classroom and into the future!

I continue to strive to learn and grow in my field and look forward to providing my passion and experience to create excitement about learning in our students.  We are blessed to have so many wonderful and involved parents who also value education in this community and I look forward to serving you.   Please feel free to reach out to me at any time with questions.  I am happy to help!

Let's have an amazing year!

Mrs. Slomiany

rachelslomiany@johnston.k12.nc.us