Parent/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.  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,

Shirli 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 17th year of teaching and my 13th 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 Ryan, Charlie, Evan and Hayden     My Mom (a blue retired teacher) and

                                                                                                                                                                                                Dad (a very green engineer)  

 My Cat (Honey) is nuts, although looking very innocent here!!!! (she is totally orange)                                                          

My sisters and I : Me (yellow), my sister Cari (orange), and my sister Chris (blue and yellow),                                 

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!!

    --2008-09 Season---I followed my 07-08 Team up to 8th Grade.  We finished out the season with a record of 11-5.  The Conference Tournament proved tough this year.  We took 3rd Place.  This team was great to have worked with for 3 years.  We placed in the tournament each year and really learned to work together.

    --2009-2010 Season----The 6th/7th grade team this year was amazing.  I had a terrific group of energetic players.  We went into the Conference Tournament in 3rd place and came out on top!  First place for a second year in a row!  I can't wait to move up with this team next year!

    --2010-2011 Season----I followed my girls from last year up to the 8th grade team.  They didn't have the expected season, but they had a great year with much team effort!

    --2011-2012 Season----I am the 6/7th grade coach again this year.     

Back to Mrs. Gajda's Home Page

Page Sponsor: Mark Richter
Webmaster: Jeff Platt           
Author:  Shirli Gajda
Created: 27 October 2004
Updated: 05/23/2011