Welcome to Mrs. Alford's Class!

Picture-->Jordan, Jonathan, Bennett, & Strider Alford (Not pictured our cat Scout & NEW Baby Eleanor...Oh, and Fred the turtle)

My name is Jordan Alford, and I am a 2007 graduate of White Oak High School. I attended WO for all 13 years, where I was involved in numerous activities. I then went on and attended Dallas Baptist University, where I participated on the XC and Track team for the Patriots. At DBU I earned my Bachelors Degree Secondary Education with an emphasis in History. I am entering my Tenth year as a teacher (yikes!), and first year at TOPS. Prior to TOPS, I taught for One year at Ore City, where I taught US history and coached: basketball, volleyball, cc, and track. Then I went on and have worked for the past fight years at Spring Hill, where I taught 6th/7th grade math for one year and then seven teaching US History. And this past year I inherited the Business & Career Prep programs as well, which included managing our school's coffee shop and helping enhance our career prep program. I have also been a coach at Spring Hill for five years. Where I coached Basketball for two & Head CC / middle and distance track for five years, where I was able to build a program to be the largest in school history and become one of the most successful athletic programs as a whole. I stopped coaching in 2019, due to lingering issues from a car accidents. I am still very involved in running and do training plans on the side for runners eager to improve their overall running and health using my 15 years of past experience.

I have been married to my husband, Jonathan for six years. We have four children (Strider, a four year old pup, Bennett our three and a half year old son, Scout, our one year old cat, and as of June Eleanor our 2 month old daughter). O and Fred our turtle. :) Together we enjoy maintaining our growing zoo of animals that keep coming to our home, running, biking, traveling, and anything history related or outside. And my husband, Jonathan works at Hwy 80 Rescue Mission as a case manager for men in the discipleship program. Together we have the ability to really see and teach on all levels, and likewise both of our jobs keep us well plugged in various events around our community (& now state with me joining TOPS!).

I am eagerly looking forward to this upcoming school year and am excited what is going to be accomplished here at TOPS!!

Mrs. Alford

Welcome to CWI! This first week I just wanted to welcome you and make sure you have access to a few things to begin class.

This will be the way I provide announcements for our class throughout the year. I will post sections in the smore to cover:

1) updated info / due dates

2) announcements

3) PPTs, Videos & other resources for the current Unit.

4) Contemporary issue of the week.....

Feel Free to email me potential topics that would interest you (as well I have a place in the INFORMATION FORM) for you to fill out as well.

Fill Out the: INFORMATION PAGE (click on link)

**Make sure you know when class is to begin Aug 16th @2:45pm!!

No need to stress, we will have a great DAY ONE!!

For class you will need to have something ready to take notes with (of course you can always use my slides to print out or video recording).

Sign up with ClassKick (you will see this in many other classes you are in)

Sign up to get this announcement.

To be successful in this course and at this school you will need to have MICROSOFT OFFICE installed. Below is a link to help walk you through it if your still needing help.

LINK FOR HELP GETTING MICROSOFT OFFICE

This year I am going to be playing out a long winded story of the "Adventures of Strider" as we look into various events around the world. Sometimes the controversial issue might even be within the Alford household. I hope you enjoy as the Adventures are JUST BEGINNING!!

To start-->

Strider is our beloved four year old pup that we rescued when she was about four weeks old. She was found on the side of the road covered in fleas and dirt. She has been my faithful sidekick through many adventures. As a coach, she attended practices with me and ensured the runners did their runs and cheered them on at meets. Yes, she rode the bus! She even entered herself into a race once. (insert face palm!) Just know the race director said that will be her last one! These days she makes her way around the park at our house, and she and her BFF Gracie, Labradoodle next-door, get into all kinds of trouble from time to time! Seeing that I am now working for "Stride"/K12, I see it only fit to add her into my next adventure! Hope you enjoy these stories from time to time as we dive into ISSUES around the WORLD and sometimes just around PARK!!

TO KEEP or NOT TO KEEP-->

There are countless stories of peoples' experiences with COVID as it raged around the world and now heats up again with a vengeance! However to lighten the mood, one thing COVID did at our house was start the "Alford ZOO". In the four months we were in lock-down, our house gained: a kitten named "Scout" who is daily on yard patrol, a squirrel named "Eek" that sadly didn't make it, a turtle named "Power Ranger" that we let go...yet almost got back because someone posted him on a lost and found page, and a bird who didn't last long.

Since we have continued to house many animals in all forms: furry, feathery, and reptiles, no snakes...I do have my limits! Ever since the ZOO has been named we have created ourselves an on going ISSUE, "To keep, or Let Go". Yesterday was no different. My son got his first running watch (big deal at our house) and we were headed to the park for a test run. However, we never fully made it out of the yard, because right outside the gate both Strider & Bennett saw a frog and quickly forgot about the run. Strider got the frog by her paw and Bennett quickly rescued it. They both gave me the look of "we need this, go get the cage", and so I did. They then spent the next hour playing with the new frog outside. Meanwhile from afar, our cat, Scout, formed her own thoughts about the frogs future, if you catch my drift. As the sun began to set it was time to go in, at that time I was informed by Bennett of he and Strider's clever idea to try and keep the frog (for at least one night)...in other words a sleepover with the frog. Being the softly that I am, I naturally agreed to one night. Now keep in mind, this is after a talk with Bennett two weeks ago about catching and releasing. (We had two then) I am much more of a "keep and release" type girl when it comes to our reptile exhibit, keeping them more of on a rotating basis. However, my husband has now been convinced this one might be for keeps! YIKES!! So outcomes the issue at hand, what to do with our new found friend?

Hope you enjoyed this light-hearted welcome story to how issues are not always BIG and SCARY, sometimes its just simple things in life, like a three year old and his growing zoo. :)

ZOOM office Hours (10:15-11:00am) Monday & Friday's (click on that link & Passcode = f8edYb)

1:1 Office Hours sign up by appointment (8:45-9:30am)

(click on link to schedule appt) Tu / Wed/ Thur 8:45-9:30am

Email: jalford@texasonlineprep.org
Phone: (903)-309-1420