Saturday Night Teacher Feature ~ Jana from Thinking Out Loud

If you are stopping by from the March Madness blog hop, head over to that post {here}.


Being a teacher can be so difficult.  Aside from just day to day teaching, we have to attend meetings, talk with parents, fill out paper work, find and create materials, grade papers, plan, plan, plan, etc. etc. etc!  Often times it seems that we cannot do enough.


Today, several of my teacher friends are taking some time out to recognize how hard every teacher works.  We have had the amazing opportunity to get to know each other, share ideas, and learn from each other.   Today is our day to "feature" other teachers and recognize their amazing work!
 I am pleased to feature Jana from Thinking Out Loud this evening.  I met her through several blog hops that we have participated in and have enjoyed her expertise as a teacher.  We began a fun journey with many other bloggers on our collaborative blog Adventures in Literacy Land, a place to find out more about all things literacy!

Jana started teaching 12 years ago as a 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher and was asked by her district to become the reading teacher for the same grades.  While receiving her reading specialist masters degree. she feel in love with teaching reading.  After a few years teaching reading, she was asked to become the reading coach and coached for three years in grades 4-7.  While she was a reading coach, she achieved National Board certification in Literacy: Reading – Language Arts: Early and Middle Childhood.  Now she has made the move to coaching PK-3rd grade teachers as an instructional coach.

As a reading teacher, she loves to use read alouds as mentor texts to show students how to read and write.  She truly enjoys teaching vocabulary because she thinks it opens up the world of reading by providing students with background knowledge they need to comprehend what they read.

She became a teacher to give back what was given to her – "the belief that I will succeed".  Her second grade teacher taught her how to read and instilled the belief that she could go to college even though she came from a poor household with uneducated parents.  Because of her, Jana was the first person in her family to graduate from college.  Her teacher was her inspiration to get her masters and to become a National Board Certified Teacher.

She has been married for 13 years and has a five month old daughter.  Though she lives in Arkansas, she loves to visit Walt Disney World even though she has only been there once.  Just like many teachers, she is addicted to buying books and Sharpies of all kinds.

Here are her "Top 3 Greatest Hits!"



http://readingandthinkingoutloud.blogspot.com/2013/10/multiple-intelligences-in-classroom.html
I really enjoyed reading her blog post about Multiple Intelligences.  This is something we worked at our school several years ago, and it helped me better understand my students.  Jana reminds us all that we need to find the best way our students learn to reach ever student.  You can read this post {here}.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Build-a-Snowman-Sight-Word-Game-All-Lists-989321
Her Build a Snowman Sight Word Game is perfect for helping students identify and read those all important sight words.  They will enjoy the fast paced game as they create their own snowmen.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-Picture-Writing-Prompts-215713

And with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, these Picture Writing Prompts are perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  Jana uses real photos with prompts to help students think and write about what is happening.  She has also included differentiated writing papers for the students to use.  Click {here} or on the picture above to grab your copy.

I hope you have enjoyed finding out more about my friend Jana from Thinking Out Loud.  Click on the links below to find out about some of our other teacher friends.



1 comment

  1. It was fun to learn more about Jana! She and I share the book buying & Sharpie addition!
    Wendy
    Read With Me ABC

    ReplyDelete

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