We are proud to introduce our 44th Sunday Spotlight, featuring Jamie Browning who is a teacher in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Jamie enjoys getting to know her students outside of their academic lives. She likes using Edulastic to track data throughout her district, and relies on it in her classroom as a benchmark tool for gauging when to reteach a concept. In her free time she can be found relaxing or adventuring with her husband and 3 children! We hope you enjoy getting to know Jamie as much as we did! 

Jamie Browning

Teacher
Pontotoc Middle School
Pontotoc, Mississippi
4.5 years working in education
@MsMakeoverMama

“I think building trust is a crucial part of a successful teacher. I love when my students cannot wait to tell me that they made the basketball team, had their first date, or anything else that crosses their mind.”

– Jamie Browning

Get to know Jamie Browning

 

What do you love about working in education? What motivates you? 

My students motivate me every single day! Even on the hardest days when I think I can’t make it through, one of my students will tell me how I helped them succeed in another class or maybe just have left a note on my table. It’s the little things that shine so bright to me.

Why did you become a teacher? 

I became a teacher to help others. I always knew I wanted to help other people and also be available at home with my family. I truly believe that teaching is my calling and I have figured that out over the past year through the trials I have faced. I absolutely love forming a bond with my students! I think building trust is a crucial part of being a successful teacher. I love when my students cannot wait to tell me that they made the basketball team, had their first date, or anything else that crosses their mind…well almost anything! LOL!

What is your “Edulastic story”? 

I discovered Edulastic my 2nd year of teaching 8th grade ELA and it was a game changer. Edulastic really challenged my students, and I could see instant results from their work –  it was a win-win situation! Over the next two years using Edulastic, the company made vast improvements that really improved the students’ data, usage, and questions. I quickly shared Edulastic with my co-teacher to allow us to utilize the data features for our students. I am a data-driven person, so that was a winner for me!

Describe your Edulastic “aha” moment.

I continued to use Edulastic even though my students’ scores were horrible! I kept pushing them to improve and give it their all. I would go back and review which standards needed improvement, then re-teach those standards and retest using Edulastic. After using Edulastic and monitoring the data, I began to see a huge change in my data. I tracked data for the tests that my district gives as well as common assessments given by my co-teacher and me.

What are your teaching/learning goals this year?

My teaching goals are to self-reflect more. I say this to myself, but I also would like to allow my student to do this weekly. Maybe allow 7-9 minutes each Friday to self-reflect on the week of learning in class and how it was positive/negative, and could be made better.

Sum up your teaching philosophy in a few sentences! 

I personally believe that you must first have the mindset that all of your students can learn. I say this with passion because we face struggles with students daily, and we think at times there is just no hope. With great teaching and compassion for your students, your students can learn and can succeed.

I also believe building positive relationships with your students and allowing your students to build positive relationships with one another sets up a great community feel for your classroom. In return, it builds the safe learning environment that your students need and desire. For you to thrive in classroom management, you must build trust prior to earning respect from students. I learned this my first semester teaching in a very low income district and thought it was the craziest theory i’d ever come up with, but I learned it to be true. Implementing these skills I have learned throughout the years in my classroom from day one, allows for positive and successful classroom management.

Favorite motivational quote:

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”  – Eric Thomas

Tips for new Edulastic users:

Despite the challenges you may face, perseverance is key.  I struggled with Edulastic at first, trying to learn a new site, utilize it to the best of my ability, and stay positive towards the students when they would do terribly on an assignment, but perseverance was key in giving the students more confidence and giving me the assurance I needed that I was making the correct choice.

Quick Facts

Favorite Edulastic question type?

I love the multi-part question format because it mimics our state assessment! I really like the other types of questions as well because they are all like our state assessment too.

Favorite snack while using Edulastic

Tropical Trail Mix

Coffee or Tea?

Tea

Spring or Fall?

Fall

Computer?

Mac

Favorite Book:

‘Anxious For Nothing’ by Max Lucado

Best tactic for getting the class quiet?

Teacher- “Classity,-Class,-Class”
Students- “Yessity, Yes, Yes”

Must- have classroom Decor: 

Bulletin board boarder everywhere, curtains, word wall

Kindest compliment you have received from a student or teacher?

The kindest compliment I have received from a student is how much assistance my class was to her when she reached high school after I had taught her in 8th grade.

Funniest student moment?

When I gave my students an assignment to create their own invention and one student said he would invent “Weavi’s” by taking a hair weave and creating a new style of jeans! I still joke with that student when I see him because it was so funny the way he described it!

How do you like to spend your free time?

I spend as much of my free time as possible with my husband and 3 children. We enjoy being outside, taking road trips, and just being lazy watching movies.

Favorite time of the school year and why:

My favorite time of the school year is early fall because a lot of students are excited about school and the weather is pretty enough to have class outside somedays.

Greatest accomplishment in the classroom this past year:

Learning how to accept constructive criticism, not take it personally, and grow from it.
Green Star

Join Jamie Browning and other educators:

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