Melissa FredericksWhen Melissa Fredericks began teaching over twenty years ago, she never imagined the breadth of experiences she would have or the passion she would feel for the profession. She wrote the book Finding the Joy in Teaching; From the Toilet to the ScaledUniverse in order to inspire other teachers to find the joy in teaching even when the obstacles are many. This is her first book. Melissa has taught both general education and special education spanning grades pre-k through high school. She also has a private Math tutoring business. In her life as a teacher, she enjoys exploring unusual topics with students, creating and fostering engaging projects and assignments and most of all, being part of the growth and learning of the students she has the honor of teaching. Melissa has contributed to the professional community in many ways. She has written items for the NYS 3-8 Math exam, led workshops for Expeditionary Learning, and shared her teaching experiences through a blog on Medium called TeachingtoInspire. She has been awarded two grants during her time as a teacher. In 2013, she earned a Fund for Teachers grant to travel the Oregon trail in order to enhance her settler life curricular units in grade K-3. In 2019, she was granted the Bostitch Creativity for her lesson plan titled ""Around the World through Cooking, Writing and Art"" which she used with her high school special education class. Melissa lives in Rochester, NY with her two teenage daughters. They enjoy climbing mountains together and spending as much time outdoors as possible. Read More Read Less