I’m Jennifer, and I teach English as a second language.

Thank you for this opportunity to showcase my portfolio, teaching experience, educational training, and why I am a good candidate for Vermont licensure.

Under my provisional license, I have been teaching K-12 ELL students for the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) in Bristol, Vermont.  I was part-time last year, but this year, I received a full-time contract, as well as one for the 2024-2025 season, pending satisfaction of this peer review process.

Included with my portfolio and other required documents, I have three recommendation letters, all of which are from teachers or administrators with years of teaching experience who have seen my work ethic, passion for helping students, collaboration with coworkers, and desire to see the MAUSD ELL program grow and develop and play a vital role in the community in which I reside.

I have had a unique journey in education over the years, teaching in Japan for 14 years, serving as a middle school youth director for 9 years, and a director of children’s ministries for 9 years. I received my undergraduate B.S degree in education and worked with youth in outdoor education programs. My M.A. degree focus was on intercultural studies with a concentration on the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate. In this past decade, I have had many great experiences as an adjunct ELL teacher and lecturer at two different community colleges in the Chicago area.

During this time I also gained more experience as an ELL teacher working with high school students at summer intensive language programs run through the University of Wisconsin, as well as spent over 500 hours as an elementary school teacher substitute in the Chicago suburbs.

Little did I know that all these experiences combined prepared me for what I am doing now as the Multilingual Learner Specialist at MAUSD. I love serving in the community where I live and helping the students of families where English isn’t their native language. This peer review process hasn’t been easy, but I have learned a lot along the way and welcome your feedback and approval as I hope to continue to impact the community where I live by gaining my Vermont license to teach k-12 ELL learners.