Jennifer Chandler
Meet Me & My Class

After growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I attended Furman University in South Carolina to extend my training in music and earn my degree in education. After graduation, I moved to Columbia, South Carolina and spent my first two years teaching in a small, rural elementary school in Gadsden, South Carolina. Through experience teaching all subject areas, I learned that my passion resides with language arts. So, I moved to a new district to teach this subject in the brand new magnet program in a middle school setting. Because of my background in the elementary level, I believe one of my strengths is transitioning students from an elementary setting to a more sophisticated middle school level.

During my first six years of teaching, I have taught grades two through seven in some capacity. I have recently been declared a National Board Certified Teacher and am currently working on my Masters of Education with a focus on middle level literacy. I've recently accepted the position of Language Arts Department Chair at my school, and I'm even coaching soccer this year!

Columbia, South Carolina, is a diverse city with many different school districts. My school is in Richland School District Two, near Fort Jackson, one of the largest army bases in the country. Because of our large army population, our school attendance district-wide can be transient. We must also provide a quality education for children living in disadvantaged areas as well as those living in affluent neighborhoods of Columbia. Our school has a population of about 1,200 students. Fifty-six percent of our students are African American, 38% Caucasian, 3% Asian, 3% Hispanic, and 0.4% are American Indian. About 40% of our students take part in our free or reduced lunch plan. We have an award-winning PTO and a competent faculty in our learning-centered school. We truly are one big family.

Our magnet program incorporates Sean Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and E. D. Hirsch's rigorous Core Knowledge curriculum. I collaborate with my grade level team to integrate all subject areas and provide a nurturing transition for our students from elementary school to middle school. While my core area of instruction is language arts, I always profess that I teach communication in a humanities-based setting. I am constantly integrating social studies and math or science into my lessons; making connections often helps learning to "stick." My population of learners includes students who have an Individualized Education Plan or a 504 Plan; I also teach those who are identified as gifted learners. Since my classes combine students on various learning levels, differentiating instruction is a key component in my lessons to insure that all students experience success.

If I could sum up my strongest belief about adolescent education into one word, that word would be "integration." I wish to provide teaching ideas for strong, useful lessons that other middle school teachers can use to integrate into technology, music, art, and different learning styles. I believe that while we all have different teaching situations and styles, there are universal needs that all adolescents possess. I hope you are able to use my lessons to help you explore the strengths, interests, and long-term learning goals each of your students has while gaining inspiration to try new activities and methodologies to reach that reluctant learner in your classroom.

I believe every school day is an opportunity to guide a child towards the discovery of her own purpose in life. While I accept the challenges of teaching in a middle school, I sincerely enjoy working with unpredictable, creative, outgoing, profound, and flexible pre-teens. As I remember all the details of being an adolescent, I know I never would have made it to adulthood if it weren't for the teachers who got me through the day and made me smile. Though I push my students, challenge them, make them think, and give them the time to reflect, I always try to be the one adult who remembers to make them smile while they sweat.