Jennifer Thornton
7/8 Middle School Science Teacher
Scott County
In what way (s) are you a connected educator?
I remain a connected educator through the use of face to face
interactions such as the Science Content Leadership Network through CKEC (Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative). CKEC is a great way to meet educators from
every district across the state of Kentucky and have an exchange of ideas as we
tackle the new science standards.
Technology is fantastic but it can never replace personal interactions
by teachers. Technology is great for
aiding in communication. I use twitter
to let students and parents know daily what was classwork and homework and ask
and answer questions. Remind 101 is something new I’m trying this year to send
out big announcements for our team. It is
a fantastic resource with a very similar format to twitter but does not show
parents your cell phone number and goes straight to their phone. I’m also available before school, during school,
and after school through email to parents and students. Royal Spring Middle School believes as do I in
maintaining and encouraging student relationships and being rigorous. With rigorous instruction means supporting
students so they can be successful in all endeavors and be willing to take big
risks. I also use a Google blog (http://jthornton13.blogspot.com/) to share with my
students and parents what the daily learning target is and the bell ringer, agenda
and homework for class every day. I also
have a website (http://jthornton17.org/) which I use for
students to use to review for a test or to teach content. Every topic for sixth, seventh, and eighth
grade is addressed with twenty to forty interactive games and online labs. Most of the games are self-checking. I use this to differentiate and enrich by helping
every student review whatever content area for each unit they are having
difficulty with as well as to teach certain topics. Links to Brain Pops and Study Jam videos by
Scholastic also offer instruction as well as feedback from their quizzes. I use United Streaming video clips and
You-tube videos in my classroom to offer great visuals to many hard to understand
scientific concepts. NSTA conferences, List serves from KDE
(Kentucky Department of Education), and professional publications such as NSTA
(National Science Teachers Association) Science Scope and Science Teacher, and
Edmodo are great professional resources at my fingertips. Smart Exchange also helps me find great Smart
Board activities as well as submit my own.
How does being connected impact your practice?
It is what allows my world to rotate!! Organizations such as the CKEC and NSTA help
teach best practices, how to assess, content knowledge, and new research on
educational practices. They also give a
person to person network to bounce ideas off of and get ideas for lesson
planning from their professional journals and handouts. Whether it is your first year teaching or
you’re a seasoned veteran, staying connected helps me be a better teacher. They help me stay on the cutting edge. Staying connected pushes me to try new
practices and implement new technology with the support of content teachers in
the trenches.
How does being connected impact you as a professional?
Using research based educational practices helps drive my
instruction. Knowing that I have CKEC to
help as Science consultant to my district as well as anytime I pick up the
phone there is an actual live person there to support my classes is tremendous!
Twitter, Google Blog, Remind 101 and
email allow me to communicate daily with my students and parents and other
teachers (such as special education or alternative education within my building)
or others from all over the state of Kentucky.
The more my parents and students can access and see what I do in my
classroom on a daily basis, the more they can work together with me as a
partner in their child’s education. It
allows my students to start advocating for their own education by having
support and be in charge of their learning.
What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested
in becoming connected?
As Alison Preece says “Education is not a
process of putting the learner under control, but putting the student in
control of his or her learning.”
Technology can be a great help in giving control and support to a
teacher. Not every technology website or
social media is going to work for every teacher and every content area. You need to do what feels natural and is an
extension of you. If something doesn’t
work the first time don’t give up. Be
persistent and try again. Stay
connected. Pick one small new piece of
technology and practice to try and work up from there. If you can try it with someone you work with
so you can support each other through the ups and downs as you start on that
journey, then so much the better.
Realize it’s okay to change based on the group of students each
year. Staying connected gives you more
tools in your teacher tool box that you can pull out based on the situation. Staying connected is worth your time and
energy! It will directly impact the
learning and instruction in your classroom.
Jennifer Thornton is in her 15th year teaching
Science at the middle school level.
Currently she is a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Royal Spring
Middle School in Scott County. Jennifer enjoys
meeting diverse students’ needs through hands on experiments and technology to
explore each concept being taught. She began
her career teaching eighth grade physical science and forensic science in
Lexington, Virginia. Jennifer holds a
K-8 elementary education degree with a concentration in Science from Wilmington
College in Ohio. She also holds a masters
degree in special education Learning Disabled from Mary Baldwin College in
Virginia. Jennifer has implemented
standards based learning and grading, and enjoys curriculum planning.
Twitter: @jthorntonRSMS
Blog: jthornton13bolgspot.com
Website: jthornton17.org
Email:
jennifer.thornton@scott.kyschools.us
No comments:
Post a Comment