Jennifer Kelly
What is your role with The Center and what are you most excited about?
I am a Regional Literacy Specialist with The Center. I think working with coaches is the most exciting aspect of my role. I love working with and learning from all of them! Getting to see what is happening in our schools is very rewarding.
What is your background?
I like to say I’m a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I have worked hard in my 26 years of teaching to seek out opportunities for new and useful experiences that further my skill set. Due to this, I have worked with PreK students, teachers, and parents all the way up to adults in Community College. The bulk of my teaching experience is in reading intervention, specifically identifying students with “Characteristics of Dyslexia” and providing services within a public-school setting. I have worked in traditional public schools, public charters, community colleges, curriculum companies, and now, nonprofits. I have experience with “regular”, Dyslexic, second language, and special education learners as well as adults in remedial reading and Educational Foundations classes. I am certified in grades 1-8 and have a master’s degree in Community and School Counseling and Educational Leadership.
What is your favorite childhood book or literacy memory?
My grandmother was a 1st grade teacher trained in Natchitoches at the Normal School for Teachers. She believed in what we now call the Science of Reading. My favorite literacy memories are the ones where I spent hours sitting in her lap first listening and then later, as I learned to read, reading to her. I was lucky enough to get to see my oldest son sitting in her lap and listening as she read him a book!
Flashback to when you were 10 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I dreamed of being a veterinarian. My grandmother wanted me to be a teacher!
If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
Oh my! I am dying to get back to Indonesia to friends I made there. My host recently lost her husband and I would love to be able to hug her!
What passion projects do you have outside of work?
My greenhouse and beekeeping. I spend a lot of time in my greenhouse. In the spring, I sell rootings and cuttings as my side hustle to keep bees. Beekeeping is a lot of fun but also surprisingly expensive!