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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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Sardis High School teacher earns top honor
Published February 2, 2010
SARDIS CITY — Sardis High School teacher Jennifer Johnson handed bags of Gummi bears and Tootsie Rolls to each student who entered her geometry class Wednesday.
The bags contained different amounts and combinations of the candies and sparked Johnson’s discussion about ratios.
It was a sweet and chewy way to approach a subject not exactly known for tempting the taste buds.
Johnson, 30, is always looking for creative ways to spur interest in mathematics.
She is even scheduling students to attend a play – yes, a play – about math.
“It’s called ‘Eureka!’ and it’s about a girl who has a test coming up, and she’s very nervous, which a lot of our students are nervous about their math tests,” Johnson said. “She’s visited by famous mathematicians from history, like Blaise Pascal and Albert Einstein. It’s a lot like ‘A Christmas Carol.’
“We hardly ever get to go to a play, especially one about math. So when I got the brochure, I thought I had to jump on it. I’m probably more excited than the students are.”
Her genuine excitement about learning is perhaps one of the reasons Johnson was selected the Etowah County Board of Education Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010.
“It’s overwhelming because I feel like I try to give my students the best education,” Johnson said. “I feel like we have so many teachers in Etowah County that give their best also. So for me to be chosen, it was just an overwhelming honor.”
Sardis High School Principal Gerald Beard is a former geometry teacher and is impressed with Johnson’s abilities as an educator.
“Jennifer is a very high-moral person, an excellent teacher and a community leader,” Beard said. “She has an ability to get along with kids and teach at their level. She does a real good job of helping the kids enjoy math. Most kids dislike math, so it’s tough getting them enthused about it. She does outside projects and incorporates a lot of technology in her classroom.”
Johnson is a Weaver High School grad and daughter of Evis and Linda Thompson. She started teaching at Sardis in 2006 after five years at Rainbow Middle School. She earned her bachelor’s from Jacksonville State University, and her master’s and Ed.S. from the University of Alabama. She is married to Jeff, an assistant principal at Boaz Middle School. They have two daughters, 8-year-old Carleigh and 4-year-old Avery.
Bridging the gap
In 2009, Johnson attended training via the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, or AMSTI.
“For me in high school, I was never really over the top about geometry,” she said. “When I thought about teaching geometry, it had a lot of positives in that I would get to teach high school and be with older kids. But I was very nervous about the content.
“A major challenge was coming up with the activities. I wanted to make it fun for my students because I knew if it was fun for them it would be fun for me. AMSTI really bridged that gap from where I was to where I wanted to be. When we went to AMSTI this summer, it gave me a ton of new opportunities as far as activities to do with my kids and the supplies I needed to do those activities with.”
Johnson acknowledged battling a generally negative attitude toward math.
“A lot of times parents will say I hated math when I was in school, and their kids will say I’ve never been good at math,” she said. “That’s an obstacle to overcome to change that attitude. I tell my students I have chosen to do this every day. I wouldn’t choose to do something that was boring every day for the rest of my life. I try my hardest to make them see they can use it outside these walls, and every once in a while you can be learning math and having fun, too.”
Technology
Technology has helped remove learning barriers, Johnson said.
“Technology has opened up a world for our students to get help outside of school,” she said. “I have a blog that my students can blog with me outside of school, and I actually have required them sometimes to blog with me. We have wikis we can use to post projects on. Students can collaborate on projects without having to be all together in one place.
“My Promethean board is a tremendous asset. We can go on virtual field trips right here in class if we need to. I was able to pull up some pictures of a famous artist that did tessellations. Instead of having to go and buy the posters, I was able to pull that up on the Internet and show them on my Promethean board.
“I have a student response system where I can get instant feedback from them. If we did a lesson and I’m worried if they understood it, I can give them a short quiz on these student response systems. It gives me instant feedback and tells me automatically how many people got it right and who got it wrong.”
Inspiration
Johnson said her second grade teacher at Weaver Elementary inspired her.
“She was always so warm and open to me,” she said. “She just stuck with me. Before my daughter started the second grade, I got to see her again. It just brought back that flood of emotions about the way she always made me feel in her classroom.
“I was confident I had been taught the content and had the tools to teach the content, but I think being a teacher is more than just the content. She really inspired me to be a loving, caring person to my students when they come in, and a firm disciplinarian at the same time. We always knew when she got on to us, it was because she loved us.”
Like her inspiration, Johnson is concerned about more than just her students’ grades. She wants them to lead happy and fulfilling lives.
“I’m bad about taking it home with me,” she said. “I worry about my kids when they’re not here.”
The technology and the tessellations, the Promethean boards and the ratios are not why Johnson teaches. The reason is exponentially higher than any math equation.
“I feel like teaching is much like being called to be a missionary,” she said. “It’s something that God called me to do. And every day I get to come and see the future of our country.”
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