About Me

Welcome!  My name is Kate Jones and I’m new to the world of blogging.   I am starting this blog as part of my coursework at The University of Akron where I’m working towards my Master’s in Elementary Education with a Literacy Focus.  Originally from Pennsylvania, I graduated from Penn State University with my undergraduate degree in Elementary Education.  For the past six years, I have taught grades three, four, and five.  Currently, I live in Akron, Ohio with my husband, Brandon, and our pet bunny, Macy.  We moved to Ohio this summer while Brandon completes his pediatrics residency at Akron Children’s Hospital.  This year, I am beginning a new journey co-teaching second grade where I will mainly focus on literacy and math.  In my free time, I love to read, shop, travel, go to the pool, hike with my husband, spend time with family and friends, and cheer on the Nittany Lions, of course! 

My first experience using technology as a teacher was in college during my student teaching.  During my senior year, I was part of Penn State’s Professional Development School, which provided me a full year student teaching experience and the opportunity to use technology regularly with a one-to-one laptop initiative.  I had the opportunity to learn about and use podcasting, iMovie, and SmartBoards.  In my professional teaching career, I have mainly used the Internet and PowerPoint slideshows with my students.  I have also used GoogleDocs as a way to communicate between colleagues and tried using this with students for first time last year.

As a child I loved to read, and still do to this day! Now as a literacy teacher, I strive to instill a life-long love of reading in all of my students.  I teach reading and writing using a balanced literacy approach and try to integrate reading/language arts skills across subject areas as often as possible.  I am looking forward to the new challenge of co-teaching during the literacy block this year and hope to grow as a professional as I collaborate with my colleagues and complete my graduate coursework.

As we’ve discussed in class, being transliterate in today’s society is becoming increasingly important.  During this class, I hope I increase my own transliteracy by experimenting with new technologies available.  By improving my awareness of and ability to use a wider variety of media platforms and tools, I hope to model responsible and meaningful use for my students.  After becoming more familiar with the new technologies out there, I hope to incorporate them in ways that would enhance my instruction and increase my students’ transliteracy.