Biography

An Inside Look @ Who I Am:
Hi! My name is Jenny Sommers. I was born and raised in a small rural village called Hartville, Ohio. I love Hartville! True, not much "exciting" happens here, but we are a family friendly environment.I am grateful to have been blessed with a large family that surrounds me as a part of my community.

A couple things I am passionate about are LIFE and PEOPLE. I have been given the free gift of eternal life through the shed blood of Jesus. God in his great love and mercy has chosen me to be a child of his! I rejoice in the fact and wonder of this. It is something that I try to keep in mind as I live my life. It is my full intention to live out loud. Sharing this love that God has given me for people has been huge also; I am a connections person. I thrive on relationships that I have been blessed with. Often it is my heart that is drawn to people. I love to see where indivduals have come from and what they are living, learning, and being challenged with. I have seen much of my own heart from the interactions I have been able to partake in. I look forward to what is to come. I know not what the future holds, but indeed, I know who holds the future!

// Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 //

In my free time I love to read, listen to music, play games and hang out with people. I enjoy getting to know international students, as well as eating out at international restuarants.

Due to my love for kiddos I have jumped into the land of education. I have been told for years that I should be a teacher. I have finally embraced that! It is my desire as an educator, that I may be a positive role-model to young people. That I may be able to impart to them that their lives carry significance, value and worth. If I make a difference in the life of one child, I will have been a sucess. This desire has been brought on by my own childhood. I was loved and accepted at home; however, I was made fun of for much of my life in social settings. It is my belief that children should be built up and not torn down. Because of the feelings I struggled with growing up, I have determined to try to make a difference in the life of as many students as God places with in my path.

// Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalms 62:8 //

My Philosophy of Education

I once read that teaching is the hardest job a person could choose as a career. The society in which we live is remiss in explaining to parents the necessity of their involvement in their own children’s education. This sad truth leaves educators at a sensitive, yet impactful juncture. We have the power to touch young people’s lives with an education of the mind, and with a coming-of –age sense of identity. The ability to embrace our four core components—knowledge, technology, diversity, and ethics—will accomplish great fulfillment in the lives of the students and the educators likewise. Knowledge is so much more than what can be found within a book. I believe that as a professional educator it is imperative that I am knowledgeable within the field I am teaching. I also believe that being knowledgeable about the students and their community dynamics, will greatly affect the manner in which I try to relate the subject of math to their lives, and increase the receptability of the students to me as their educator. The influence of technology is steadily shaping our world. Each new modification or technological discovery that arises brings excitement and yet, a small glimmer of fear. When the world loses power for a day, the electronic world crashes, and many people are left without the necessary equipment to function. As a math teacher I would love to teach the ability to do equations and graphs on paper, but also the knowledge and speed of using a calculator. There are many good programs for tutoring and online math sites that I would encourage use of also. Diversity is a beautiful thing. True, it can be scary, but it is liberating also! I see diversity as the master mix of who each individual is created to be. Some are from meager beginnings, some from wealth; we create a vision with the pigment of our skins; the voices we expound with, or shyly comment from; the homes we return to may be of a single-parent, or full of extended family. Each life that enters my room is deserving of an education. A students heritage, intelligence, beliefs and behaviors are important, but not the determining factor as to if I spend ample time/resources providing them with the education they need to survive on their own. Each student under my leadership should receive as many opportunities to succeed as are available to them. My job is to know who they are and what I can do to speed them on their way. Ethics is a lost art that I would love to reintroduce to my students. It is my responsibility to respond in situations of right versus wrong, especially when students are being taught in the world that anything goes. I believe each student has value and worth. I see many young people that are wandering aimlessly, or making negative life decisions that could be altered if they would only have someone in their life to encourage them and believe in them. I am not saying that I need to be their moral indicator in life, but my heart is for the youth that are longing to have someone acknowledge their personhood- to hear their heart through the angry words of pain- to care if they show up to class. I desire to allow my students to want to be better, for this will affect the rest of their lives. I stated at the beginning of my reflection that teaching is the hardest job; however, I believe that it can also be one of the most rewarding. A nineteen year old friend told me that to him, teachers are the people that make us become who we are. In many ways this is so true. I am excited at the opportunity to become an educator, even a life mentor, to many amazing young men and women that will someday soon be the leaders, and the infrastructure of their own communities.

4/11/10