Featured Teacher…. Jo Ann Wood
Ms. Wood has been teaching
for 36 years. Her career has spanned many grade levels, states and
countries. Her diverse background brings
to our school culture and a rich, high level of teaching standards.
Jo Ann was raised in Big
Valley until the 7th grade when her family moved to Dinuba. Here she graduated from high school and moved
onto Junior College at Kings River College Readily. After one year she transferred to Shasta
College. Jo Ann graduated from Chico
State with a BA in Liberal Studies.
During her Chico State
studies Jo Ann was given the opportunity to participate in a Spanish Exchange
program and spent a semester in Mexico.
Her introduction to the Spanish language started in the 5th
at Big Valley Elementary. Her love of Spanish
began at a young age. She completed her
student teaching in Redding.
Jo Ann began her teaching
career in Honduras. She taught 3rd
grade to U.S. students. The students’ families
were living in Honduras working for American companies such as Chiquita
Banana. She spent 2 years teaching and
learning about their culture.
Over the next 12 years Jo Ann
taught Kindergarten thru University level education in Columbia. She loved the people and culture. During these years she took a break from
teaching to return to the states to obtain her Masters Degree. She attended Florida State and taught at the
worst school in Gadsden County near Tallahassee. She spent 2-years teaching in Florida and
produced the first Spanish concert. Jo
Ann incorporates music in her lesson plans to this day. Her Masters Degree from Florida State is in
Multilingual and Multicultural Education.
After Florida she returned to
Columbia and took a principal position.
Returning to the states Jo
Ann taught in Santa Cruz, CA then moved to Nevada.
Jo Ann spent the next 12
years teaching at Bailey Charter School in Reno, Nevada.
She was a co-founder of the
charter taking an old building and creating a school from scratch. Students were bused in from all over Washoe
County. She started and taught a 9-week
New Comers program teaching Basic English to Spanish speaking students.
Jo Ann has taught a large
range of grades and classes. She has
college teaching experience from the University of Columbia and Sierra Nevada
College.
Jo Ann is currently teaching our
Spanish 1 & 2 classes as well as ELA Intervention and English Language Development
Support.
Big Valley is blessed and
grateful for her veteran teaching experience.
She brings culture to expand our students daily learning experience. Her
ability to speak Spanish fluently makes her lessons engaging and
challenging. Her students enjoy her
classes and have expressed how much they are learning.
We are excited to be able to
offer a Spanish 3 class in next years schedule.
Foreign Language is a requirement for college applications and an advantage
for any student moving on to college or the work place.
Thank you to Ms. Wood for her
time given for an interview. If you have
a chance spend some time getting to know this great woman. She brings so much
to our teaching staff and truly cares for our students and community.
