Aris Word-Jones

Kindergarten Teacher

• ESOL certified since 2013 with average class sizes of 20 and typically, 40% non-native English speaking students
• Highly skilled at developing strong relationships with students, parents, and peers by maintaining open lines of communication and fostering a supportive learning environment.
• Created and maintain a safe, nurturing and inclusive classroom environment that promotes emotional well-being and academic growth for all students.
• Exercise good classroom management focused on positive behavior support by clearly articulating fair and consistent expectations along with appropriate natural consequences.
• Foster social-emotional growth in students through daily morning meetings, conflict resolution strategies, and character education lessons.
• Flexible, creative and student-centered teaching style enables me to quickly switch between formal and informal methods of teaching to meet students' needs.
• Consistently and effectively utilize realia to help students connect words and concepts with real world objects and experiences, learn new vocabulary and better understand cultural context.
• Integrate and boost cultural awareness by incorporating diverse perspectives and materials into curriculum including, but not limited to, promoting children's literature with diverse characters.
• Created and maintain print-rich environment with labels and pictures to facilitate language acquisition and development.
• Collaborate with colleagues in and outside of PLCs to share resources, brainstorm ideas, and problem-solve challenges faced in classroom environment.
• Extensive experience creating ILPs
• Facilitate learning and improve performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.
• Increase parent involvement through regular, personal communication and parent-teacher conferences.
• Utilize district translators, other parents, Propio and Google Translate to effectively communicate with ESL families.
• Maintain accurate records of student progress, attendance, and behavior utilizing Infinite Campus, Canvas, Clever and Bright Arrow.
• Logged over 955 professional development hours

Activities:

• Served on school Leadership Team focused on school improvement, student performance and other initiatives contributing positively to overall school climate.
• Student Activity Committee Head - (10+ years) delegate tasks and collaborate with peers to plan activities and events to both reward and motivate students.
• Student Council Sponsor - Oversee and mentor student leadership group as they plan fundraisers, school and community service projects.
• Digital Communication Director - Produce daily video announcements; write scripts, create schedule of announcers, edit video recordings and upload mp4 files to YouTube channel for viewing. Occasionally deliver announcements "Live." Videos feature information about special events, birthdays, lunch, socio-emotional tips and coping tools as well as diversity, equity and inclusion topics. Utilize iMovie, QuickTime Player and YouTube Studio.

• Referred candidate resumes to customer account managers for evaluation and submission.
• Coordinated with IT team leaders to forecast hiring needs and department goals.
• Cultivated in-depth understanding of Software Development industry trends and hiring desires.
• Utilized cutting-edge search techniques to identify passive candidates with in-demand IT skills.
• Assisted with writing job postings and job descriptions for boards.

Second Grade Teacher (8/2003-5/2004), Substitute Teacher (8/2004-11/2004)

• Created and developed lesson plans to meet students' academic needs.
• Incorporated multiple types of teaching strategies into classroom.
• Incorporated exciting and engaging activities to achieve student participation and hands-on learning.

Kindergarten Teacher

• Kentucky Elementary was a Spanish bilingual elementary school in Cleveland, Ohio which had 1 fully-immersed section per grade level
• Helped create and was first instructor of the transitional Kindergarten classroom referred to as “Developmental Kindergarten” for students at risk for academic delays based on beginning of year assessments and screenings. 90 % of students were promoted to 1st grade.
• Implemented behavior modification strategies, resulting in improved self-regulation and classroom participation among students.
• Assessed student progress through regular evaluations, adapting instruction to meet individual needs and improve overall performance.

Activities:

• Secured position as Building Activities Chairperson responsible for budgeting and planning of field trips and other activities. Utilized Sierra of Dec Systems, a school board created computer program, to input data pertaining to student population and participation in those activities.
• Participated in the Teacher Recruitment Ambassador Program and assisted with recruitment of new teachers which included screening and interviewing prospective candidates.
• Was awarded Title I grant enabling me to create an after school dance program for young girls that promoted teamwork and encouraged self respect, self confidence and acceptance.

Pre-School Teacher

• Worked with two classes of at-risk youth providing educational opportunities that fostered development of pre-literacy skills.
• Educated students in foundational concepts such as shapes, numbers, and letters.
• Created safe and nurturing learning environment for preschoolers.
• Collaborated with a team of specialists including speech pathologist, occupational therapist, and early childhood special education teacher to ensure the optimal quality of student outcomes.
• Utilized ‘learning centers’ which allowed the students to participate hands-on in a structured environment ,conducive for learning curriculum and following instructions.

Activities

• Created an after school dance program for young girls that promoted teamwork and encouraged self respect, self confidence and acceptance.