Jodi Martin, South Burlington, joins Harwood Union Middle/High School this upcoming school year as a literacy interventionist. The Valley Reporter has reached out to all new Harwood teachers/staff members and will be publishing Q&As with those who respond in the coming weeks.
VR: Please provide a bio, including your educational background.
Martin: I have been teaching for over 20 years. I began my career at Pine Ridge School in Williston, a former independent school for students with language-based learning challenges. I worked with students one-on-one as a remedial language specialist and in the classroom as an English teacher, and eventually became the education director and academic dean. Next, I was an English teacher at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans for 12 years. I worked with a broad range of students and made cultivating a love of reading one of my primary objectives. For the past three-and-a-half years, I worked at the Stern Center for Language and Learning in Williston, providing literacy instruction for students of all ages but primarily with students at Burlington High School. I hold a Master of Education degree from Southern New Hampshire University and two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one in English from the University of Vermont and one in Secondary Education from Trinity College. I am trained at the certified level in the Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching literacy. I am passionate about empowering students with strong reading and writing skills. In my free time, I enjoy reading and writing. I also enjoy drawing and painting and am an avid Zumba enthusiast.
VR: Why do you teach the subject matter that you do? What do you enjoy most about it?
Martin: I am passionate about empowering students through literacy, helping them become stronger readers and writers so that they are equipped to access whatever opportunities they want to pursue, and so that they can expand their minds by learning more about themselves, others, and the world. I believe reading can change the trajectory of a student’s life.
VR: What are you most looking forward to this year at Harwood?
Martin: I am really looking forward to becoming immersed in the Harwood school community, collaborating with teachers, and building strong connections with students.
