Jamie Foster   PD Provider Coordinator & Facilitator Mentor E-Learning Kentucky & Kentucky Virtual Schools Part-time Math Instructor, KCTCS (SCC) Somerset, KY Jamie.Foster@education.ky.gov

About Me:

I'm currently semi-retired and teaching part-time for KCTCS and working as PD Provider Coordinator and Facilitator Mentor for KDE's E-Learning KY program.  I've has been an online facilitator for KYVS since the fall of 2006 and love facilitating online PD and am enjoying the challenge of assisting facilitators as they deliver E-Learning KY's online PD.    I've also been trained as a Blackboard course designer and was a member of the team that developed a K-5 Economics course for ELKY.  I love facilitating and the comraderie that takes place as course participants build their community of learning.  During Summer 2008 session, I facilitated two courses where participants really built their community--with over 1500 posts!   

I'm a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky--it's where both of my parents also went to school!  I received my B.S. in Mathematics, my M.A. in Mathematics Education and my Rank I in Education Administration.  I've got 28 years of experenice in education--20 in classroom teaching that includes everything from Chapter One Middle School Math to Calculus and over 20 years experience in the professional development arena.  I left teaching in the early 90s when I began spending more time outside the classroom doing professional development than I spent inside the classroom teaching children!  I joined the professional development community in a full-time capacity as I worked, first for the US Department of Education Regional Lab serving Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia--Appalachia Educational Laboratory, with the Eisenhower Math/Science Consortium.  Later I joined the staff of a National Science Foundation-funded grant, the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative, where I designed train-the-trainer workshop packages and taught teachers from multiple states how to implement the NCTM mathematics standards in their classrooms.  I never thought I'd ever move back to my hometown before I retired, but I did move back when my mother became ill in 2003.  I then had the opportunity to "practice what I preached" when I returned to my first love of teaching children mathematics for seven years.  These days, in addition to facilitating online courses, I'm working teaching college students about teaching elementary mathematics and refer to the wonderful eighth graders I've taught often during my lessons!

I have two children, Stephen (age 32) and Jennifer (age 27).  In my spare time I enjoy my cocker spaniel, Duchess, my son's Labrador, George, scrapbooking, movies, a good mystery book, four-wheeling, and I'm currently making a Heritage Star quilt for my daughter and son-in-law that MIGHT be finished in time for Christmas 2009!

From my Curriculum Vitae, I say that I'm a high energy, accountability-focused individual with twenty eight years of practical knowledge and experience in education that includes expertise in classroom instruction, curriculum planning and design, assessment design, school and district level data-driven strategic planning, online course facilitation and design, and technology use as an integral part of both adult and student learning.

I think my strengths include:

• Instruction-focused classroom management strategies
• Technology-focused, constructivist-based mathematics classroom instructional strategies
• Accountability-focused instructional practices focused on improving student achievement
• Team player with strong work ethics-working until the job is complete, whatever the task
• Communicates well with students and motivates them to perform in the classroom
• Communicates well with parents to include them in their child’s learning program 

If you would like to view my portfolio, please email me at jamie.foster@education.ky.gov