karen j

I have taught English for six and a half years in a large metropolitan school district, 4 years in two small rural districts, and 25 in an area learning center as an English teacher/guidance counselor. I also taught adult education and worked in a county jail doing GED prep and high school diploma for 15 years on a part time basis in conjunction with the Area Learning Center position.

My preference has always been to use a completely individualized approach to teaching/learning. Our students, especially in alternative education, come to us from such different backgrounds, one size never fits all. I always do a one on one assessment, and have the student start where he/she is comfortable with materials he/she selects, then slowly increase the difficulty/challenge of the materials, concepts and expectations. Nearly all of my students realize success, and that self image improvement blossoms into productive creative and confident students.

My honors and awards are all of the young minds I have opened to the beauty of learning and contributing to society. There have been so many accolades over the years, sincere thank you messages from students and parents I cannot put a number on them. But the best honor ever is seeing students' success when others had written them off as failures.

My undergraduate degree is in English/education with a minor in speech/communication and theater arts from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. My gradate degree is in psychology/counseling from St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Minnesota. Plus sixty credits in teaching standards, state standards, national standards, common core standards and integrating technology into education.

Students and their healthy learning has always been the number one focus for me. I teach the whole student, not a subject called English. I counsel the whole student, not just their in-school behaviors. I am so very honored to have had the awesome career I have had, and so proud of so many of my students who have been first in family to graduate from high school and first in family to go on to higher education. It is my great fortune to be able to offer scholarship dollars to the graduates of the alternative school I have been associated with over the years. Hats off to all the students in alternative education who face insurmountable obstacles to sometimes getting up in the morning and then getting to school. All of you have a very special place in my heart.