My Town Tutors is the nation’s 1st National Directory of teachers who tutor. Our goal is to expand our network of local teachers who tutor to 1,000 teachers!
One of our most popular posts is our Connected Educators list. Our followers love connected educators who are willing to share there knowledge and experience, however our list only includes twitter profiles. Many of our followers want to learn more about some of these incredible individuals!
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Massachusetts Educator of the Week: Jamie Armin
Find a Massachusetts Teachers who Tutors!
What is your current job of position?
I am presently a middle school Health & Life Skills educator at Tantasqua Regional Junior High School, Sturbridge, MA.
What is your educational background?
Graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree-Family & Consumer Studies; Master’s Degree-Health Science; Graduate of the Stress Reduction Program at UMass Medical • Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care & Society.
Describe your educational philosophy and educational vision?
I am an enthusiastic & passionate educator who engages students to take ownership of their physical, emotional & social health and, to advocate for themselves in order to live long & healthy. Transforming my classroom into a project based learning environment affords all students a place to have a choice and voice in their learning. Facilitating an environment of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and community is generating much success in my classroom and within our school. Students are using these higher level skills in leadership roles here at our school and at the high school level, coming back and modeling-leading our middle school students.
Twitter is the best way for growing a PLN! Over the past two years, I have connected globally with educators and am fortunate to be able to communicate 24/7/365! Presently, I am a co-moderator for the Twitter chats #CollabEd Monday 8pmET and #sunchat Sunday 9am ET. I attend professional conferences and workshops and, facilitate professional development at the school that I teach in as well to grow my professional network.
The greatest benefit of my work is that I am able to hopefully make this world a better place through teaching & learning with these wonderful adolescents! I am very lucky to have the support of the parents and community where I teach! As a former Corrections Officer in MA, I have observed firsthand what happens when adolescents get caught up in poor choices that lead to incarceration as an adult. I have been working to prevent this for the past 30 years.
If you blog, what is the focus of it? How long have you been writing? Who is your audience? Do not blog yet…
My advice to other teachers is to embrace the world of social media. Our students and parents are there! Use it to deeply engage your students. You will be amazed at the results! Twitter is a wonderful place to start! Information and resources are posted there before you hear about or see it at school or in a journal subscription!
“Smile! Hold on tight! Know that what you do every day matters! It’s you and the kids! Ask for help when you need it! Share & collaborate with what you know & create!”
My second grade teacher, Mrs. Susan (Ferguson) Graf, gave me a second chance on a Weekly reader test. She encouraged me to slow down, take my time and redo. I received a “100.” She also instilled a love of reading by encouraging my dad to bring me to the library to pick out books. “I chose!” I always remember her smiling and encouraging everyone is class! I had wanted to be a teacher like my dad since I was little & would “play school”. Mrs. Graf solidified my decision to be a teacher and here I am 30 years later, still at it!
I actually have two books: The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer
and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss!
I have purchased those books for past student teachers and my daughter who is currently a third grade teacher.
I also highly recommend “Teach Like a Pirate” by Dave Burgess. (Top 500 Teacher on Twitter)
The world of education is rapidly changing & evolving. I am hoping that educators embrace this change and hang in there for the greater good! I am hoping that our society will embrace educators as the professionals that we are, and trust in us to lead future generations to greatness! In a few years, I will be leaving education in MA and transitioning to CA. I hope to continue my work as an educator either working in a middle school designed around PBL-Project Based Learning, working with at risk youth and/or teaching future educators!