Episode Details

During school closures and remote learning, maintaining connection with students has been an enormous puzzle to solve.

When 8th grade teacher Jena Nelson, from Deer Creek Middle School in Edmond, Oklahoma, switched to online delivery, she looked at this new difficulty as a new opportunity.

Digging into her arsenal of costumes from her previous years as a drama and theater teacher, she decided that her students would have a surprise guest every day when they logged in for her composition lessons. These characters included a duchess, judge, detective, viking, and more.

Meet Jena Nelson

Jena Nelson is the 2020 Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year. She teaches 8th-grade composition and academic enhancement at Deer Creek Middle School in Edmond, Oklahoma. Jena is a 15-year educator and formerly taught theatre, musical theatre, and stagecraft.  

A long time advocate for career-based curriculum, Jena has helped her students earn over 4 million dollars in scholarships and incorporates career readiness in all of her classes.  She has been selected twice to direct at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and Jena was also chosen as a presenter at  International Music Festival in Campina Grande Brazil. This year she was selected by Congresswoman Kendra Horn to attend the State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C.  

Exploring Ways to Stay Connected

In this week’s podcast episode, Jena discusses several topics that will inspire your own service as an educator, including:

1. Lessons in distance instruction from a teacher’s perspective, and words of encouragement for all educators facing similar challenges.
2. Examp