Jennifer+Atkinson

Home email- atkinson_jennifer@yahoo.com School email- jenmarie@uga.edu Phone #- 678-472-5422

My name is Jennifer Atkinson and I live in Lawrenceville, GA. I am currently working towards receiving my Ed.S. in Gifted and Creative Education and my gifted endorsement. I have taught in Gwinnett County for the past 7 years and am currently teaching 1st grade at Jackson Elementary in Lawrenceville. My class is composed primarily of high achievers, potential gifted students, and Resource students. I have also taught kindergarten.

Outside of school, I spend most of my time dancing! I dance west coast swing and love to travel to various dance events and competitions. I also learned to crochet earlier this year and I am busy at work on projects for baby showers. I need to start working on Christmas presents too! I love being creative! I have a dog, Finlay who is a Scottish Terrier. He is quite active and I feel like I actually have a child to take care of!!

Since I focused most of my coursework during my masters to teaching struggling and average learner, I know that I have so much to learn in order to truly challenge and teach my high achievers and gifted students to their fullest potential. I am pursuing my endorsement and specialist in gifted in order to learn great strategies for motivating and challenging these gifted learners. I find this especially challenging since I teach a very wide range of abilities (from resource to gifted) in a single classroom. I hope that this class will shed some light and help me to learn more about my gifted learners so that I can better serve their needs.

Teaching is like a dance....a moving conversation dependent on the ability of two people to communicate effectively. When a good partnership is formed, there is a clear leader, someone willing to determine direction and open the door for possibility. A good leader, like a teacher, knows the potential and ability of their partner and creates opportunities for them to play and embellish upon what they know. When the leader can communicate effectively, a good follower, like a student, will trust the leader, giving them complete control and trust.
 * My teaching metaphor:**

A good dancer knows their music. They know the rhythm, lyrics, and just when the breaks are coming. The music breathes life into the dance, just as students breathe life into teaching and the classroom. A good teacher must know their students, what motivates them, their fears, strengths, weaknesses, and developmental abilities. Each students song of life and how those songs merge together to create a melody should determine the teachers instructional playbook each day, determining the tempo of learning, the genre of instructional activities, and the energy infused into the room.

Finally, just as a great dance leaves you with a rush of adrenialine and a desire to dance again, good teaching leaves you excited and motivated. Just like seeing a light bulb finally come on or being able to take advantage of a teachable moment, teaching will leave you excited about your next opportunity to make a difference in a student's life!

1. "Thank you for filling my bucket!" 2. "Is that accountable talk?" 3. "We are..." (I say this), "Top Dogs!" (My kids respond) 4. "What's in your schema about.........?" 5. "Think like a detective....what do you see?" 6. "Oh...my....goodness!!" (I really do say this too much!) 7. "What do you think.........?" 8. "Remember our goal is to.........." 9. "Did you DEBUG?" 10. "Thank you to my friends who are......!
 * Top Ten Things....you hear in my room!**


 * Raisin' Brains:**

like Otto...I am stubborn and determined, an introvert even around my closest friends, logical to a fault, an athlete, a perfectionist (MAJORLY), extremely gullible, struggle to remember the simplist things (if it is not on the list, forget it...seriously), way to serious, afraid of crowds and audiences, and have a lawyer personality (I am an observer, questioner, and very detail oriented).

like Pandora...I love reading (I read at stop lights in the car), science (my original major in college), and I am very creative (so I am told).