Jane Hannon says she just loves to teach. She spent 20 years in the classroom, teaching students from third to eighth grade, and for the past six years, she’s been teaching teachers--and, sometimes, parents--how to teach.
Hannon still makes an occasional appearance before a classroom of students, too.
As one of Fayette County’s instructional support teachers for elementary mathematics, Fayetteville resident Hannon is a member of the faculty at four local schools--Peeples, Spring Hill, Hood Avenue Primary and Fayetteville Intermediate. Her work encompasses a variety of tasks, all designed to help the teachers help students learn mathematics to the best of their abilities.
This year, Hannon has been recognized by the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The group annually honors an elementary, middle and high school math teacher who demonstrates outstanding teaching abilities and a commitment to helping students better understand math.
“I’m still a teacher,” Hannon says, “but now I support the teachers.”
Hannon started out as an art major in college, but her love of mathematics led her into teaching. With the teachers at her schools she leads discussions on instructional strategies, unit planning, examining student work and providing feedback and analyzing data. She conducts “tons of workshops” she said, some at the state level, helping teachers learn effective strategies and how to use assessments. She still gets in front of a class at times to “model teach,” so the teachers can watch how she does it.
Her boss finds Hannon’s talents praiseworthy. “Jane’s lessons are interesting, filled with manipulatives, linking math to literature, and are always student-centered,” said Lynn Ridgeway, coordinator of mathematics for Fayette County Schools. “She consistently searches for more ways to make her lessons meaningful and authentic, to make her teaching more effective and to provide assistance to her colleagues.”
When her position was first created six years ago, Hannon said some teachers were suspicious of “this woman who’s going to come in here and tell us what we’re doing wrong.” But gradually they began to realize that she could be of some help. Now they depend on her to help them find the best ways to teach.
Children in Fayetteville probably remember her for creating Num-Bee, a character on Hood Avenue’s closed-circuit television channel. Hannon worked along with the language arts specialist on the program and said it was really an enjoyable process.
Since learning is not confined to the classroom, Hannon stresses the parental connection. She has conducted numerous workshops for parents and helps teachers plan math nights at their schools.
At math night, families come together for an evening of mathematics games and learn a few that they can take home to play with their children.
Hannon said much more is known about how children learn than it was when she first started teaching.
“Now there’s a priority for everyone to reach their highest level.” She said in Fayette County, it is a priority for all students to meet the standard and for most to succeed.
She worries about America’s students falling behind the rest of the world. “We have to perform competitively,” Hannon said. “There are a lot of problem, and we need some people to solve them.”
Even after more than a quater century of teaching, Hannon retains her passion. “I love what I do,” she said. “It is amazing to receive an award for what I cannot image myself not doing.”
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