ABOUT THE TEACHER

Jessica Gaynor lives in Spokane, Washington, with her three dogs. Since 2017, she has taught English Language Arts and World History at Venture High School. Outside of the classroom, rooting for the Zags, boating on Long Lake, reading, exploring the outdoors on a great hike or bike ride, and tending to her garden.

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ABOUT THE CLASS

“In the classroom or on the building site my passion is the same: If you’re going to do something, I believe, you should do it well. You should sweat over it and make sure it’s strong and accurate and beautiful and you should be proud of it” - Ron Berger. 

The heart of Jessica's teaching philosophy is that education should be centered upon relevant, engaging, and real-world learning. In her classroom, she works hard to achieve these core values by creating a community of learners that respect and trust one another, promoting student ownership of the classroom, and emphasizing Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a teaching method that moves away from traditional lecture-style teaching and basic retention of facts towards engaging and relevant learning opportunities. In a PBL classroom, real-world problems are used as a way to get students to learn content standards while at the same time promoting deeper student learning of concepts

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CERTIFICATIONS AND ENDORSEMENTS

Bachelor of Arts in Education: Eastern Washington University Summa Cum Laude 

Teaching Endorsements:  English Language Arts and History