Congratulations to Miss Sherika Jones, this week’s Teacher Spotlight! Miss Jones is a highly motivated Mathematics teacher for Primavera Online High School. She was drawn towards mathematics because of her interest in doing puzzles, games, and reading mystery novels. For Miss Jones mathematics is a culmination of all of those things. “When you problem solve you are putting the pieces together to solve something you had no clue about when you first started, but by the end you feel like you’ve accomplished something great—like you’ve won a game!”- Miss Jones expressed.
Being able to to speak regularly with each one of her students is one thing Miss Jones appreciates most about teaching for Primavera. She calls each student at least once a week which helps her better understand each student individually and their learning style which enables her to provide her students with a personalized education. Miss Jones uses student’s goals and areas of improvement as a way of motivating them, “I like to integrate goals into my conversations with students and even when I work with them in the Adobe sessions, as it often helps them to better understand math concepts,” said Miss Jones.
Miss Jones shared a time with us when she helped a student set and reach her goals. This particular student was preparing to take her ALEKS Math Readiness course, but was not confident in her math abilities. She constantly would send messages to Miss Jones when she was stuck and just about every day Miss Jones walked her through each problem step- by- step until the student started understanding what she was learning. By providing words of encouragement every time we spoke on the phone and praising the student for her daily progress, along with some extra Adobe sessions, this student was able to not only complete all the coursework but she got an A in the class. “It felt wonderful to help this student realize that math is nothing to fear but something to practice and work to get better at; this was her first A in a math class,” said Miss Jones.
Some fun facts about you-
What is your favorite Sports team?
Miss Jones: Oklahoma City Thunder (I’m a HUGE basketball fan.)
Do you have any pets?
Miss Jones: No pets. The only pet I ever had was my fish Goldilocks in the fourth grade.
What hobbies do you have?
Miss Jones: Basketball, volleyball, reading, writing, learning to play the piano and playing all kinds of games (puzzles, board games and video games)
Where did you attend college?
Miss Jones: I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Africana Studies and Mathematics at the University of Arizona. I am currently earning a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University and will graduate this December!
What are two things on your bucket list?
Miss Jones:
1. Travel to at least one country on each continent (I don’t mind skipping Antarctica—that’s too cold for me).
2. Take a tour of the White House.
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