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Jill Simon: 2020-2021 Pine Wood Elementary Teacher of the Year


Posted Date: 02/24/2021

Jill Simon:  2020-2021 Pine Wood Elementary Teacher of the Year


“The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity.” - Neil Gaiman


When it comes to reading, anything and everything with words is fair game, according to Jill Simon, School Library Media Specialist at Pine Wood Elementary. She reminds her students constantly that whatever book they choose, it is a good book to read.


“I encourage my students to pick up anything that interests them and read,” she explained. “A graphic novel, a cookbook, a magazine, an instruction manual – whatever it is that they are interested in, read it!”


Getting students to read is what matters to Simon. She fills her library with a variety of choices and provides opportunities for students to engage in as many different reading formats as possible. She never tells them what to choose, because she knows that allowing students to make their own selections is part of getting them to read more.Jill Simon - TOY


“I love to read, and I want to share that love with others,” she said. “It is gratifying to help my students find their interests and share them through books.”


Graphic novels have become popular in recent years, with the first one of this genre winning the Newbery Medal Award for 2020. The novel is New Kid by Jerry Craft. The book has a place of honor at the PWE library.


“Graphic novels are visually stimulating and engage today’s young readers in ways that speak to them in their image-centric world,” said Simon. “I am excited to share this book in our library because it is a story that my students can relate to while at the same time engaging them in reading something that interests them on many levels.”


Students can spend their “PBIS Dragon Dollars” in the library and take home a book of their own. Often, students will ask to buy a book for a sibling or a friend. Simon encourages students to do so, because this allows them to share something they like and promotes reading in the process.


Simon helps with the Family Reading Night each year where students and their family members engage in fun and creative reading activities and get to take home a new book. This year, the Family Reading Night will be virtual. And every student in the school will receive Captain Marvel: Starforce on the Rise, a novel by Steve Behling.


As the school librarian, Simon has the freedom to explore with her curriculum and introduces her students to subjects not typically found in the traditional classroom. Each year, for example, they participate in the “Hour of Code” event in December that introduces students to programing using blocks of HTML.


Simon is the 2020-2021 Pine Wood Elementary Teacher of the Year.


She has been a classroom teacher for sixteen years and has been the PWE librarian for the past eight years. She also serves on the PWE Parent Teacher Organization Committee and is the Technology Coordinator at the school. Prior to coming the Beauregard Parish, she taught ninth and tenth grade English at Midland High School in Acadia Parish where she was the yearbook sponsor and was named the 2002-2003 Midland High School Teacher of the Year.


She earned her Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education graduating Magna Cum Laude from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She earned her Master of Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


She needs funds for books and updated technology in her library. Books, especially graphic novels and non-fiction, are expensive but necessary for a relevant library.


Her advice to new teachers is to focus on building relationships with their students because it is through those relationships that students come to understand that their teachers care for them.


“I truly believe that reading opens up worlds and opportunities,” she concluded. “I subscribe to Levar Burton’s motto – Read! I will do whatever it takes to get my students hooked on books.”