Welcome to 6th, 7th & 8th Grades
Hello. My name is Simon Chung and I am thrilled to be part of the BVAS teaching team. This is my third year as the 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade teacher. I taught for four years, primarily at White Pine Charter School in Idaho Falls and one year in the Boise School District. During those years, I instructed in 2nd, 4th, 5th/6th combo, 6th-grade and gifted/talented classrooms. Aside from the traditional classroom, I initiated, organized and led an Invent Idaho competition and assisted in supervising the 5th grade Lego Robotics team. Furthermore, I have tutored over 150 students ranging from kindergarten to college students in the last 12 years in the subject areas of math, reading and writing.
Teaching is not just another job for me; it is my passion. I love building rapport with students and discovering their unique, individual gifts. I feel ecstatic when I see the sparkle in students’ eyes when they grasp new concepts. I am overjoyed when former students email or call to inform me that they are experiencing success due to a positive experience from my classroom. It is exciting to know that I am making a significant difference in the lives of the young people in both academics and character development.
I believe that students need 21st-century skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication and problem-solving skills. Consequently, I incorporate project-based learning into my curriculum. Projects provide a plethora of opportunities for students to practice these skills, and research shows that the retention rate is notably higher in project-based classrooms versus worksheet-only driven classrooms. Not only is learning augmented, but the classroom comes alive and learning becomes more relevant and engaging while students have fun.
I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oregon. I graduated magna cum laude with honors in educational studies. I also received a minor in special education and endorsement in ELL education.
I always have an open-door policy so please feel free to drop in anytime. I strongly encourage parental involvement; it makes a huge impact on students’ learning. I’m also open to comments and/or suggestions. Thank you for this amazing opportunity and I am eagerly anticipating a wonderful year at BVAS.