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Hello, Class of 2029! I'm glad you're here!
Hello, Class of 2029! I'm glad you're here!
Welcome to our learning community! This is my fourteenth year teaching English and my eighth year at OPRF. This year, I teach Freshman English I A and Junior AP English Language & Composition. I am excited to get to know you!
Caregivers, your input matters! Please complete the Caregiver Questionnaire linked at the bottom of this page. It is my goal to create an authentic learning experience for your student, and I look forward to partnering with you in helping your student develop into young adults who value learning.
You can reach me via email at jheinemann@oprfhs.org. You can also connect with me via social media on Instagram @choice_voice_teach.
About Me
Prior to OPRF, I taught at Barrington High School in the northwest suburbs. I have a B.A. in English the University of Wisconsin-Madison (first and ten, Wisconsin! 🦡), a teaching certification in English education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an M.A. in English from Northeastern Illinois University. Over ther past two years, I also completed thirty hours online professional development courses through the University of La Verne.
Other professional opportunities that are important to me include:
Two summers ago, I attended the AP English Language exam grading in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A few years ago, I won a grant from the Book Love Foundation to continue building my classroom library, and each summer since then, I have helped lead BLF's Summer Book Club where a community of teachers read and discussed books that improved our pedagogy and ones that could be brought directly to our students!
In August 2020, I published a book for English teachers called Choice & Voice: How to Champion Lifelong Literacy through Collaborative Reader Workshop with Rowman & Littlefield in 2020. I have presented on this topic at the Illinois Association of Teachers of English (IATE) conference, at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention, in preservice education classes at DePaul University, and in various online seminars.
This November I am scheduled to present an ungrading workshop at the NCTE convention with Sarah Zerwin and other teachers.
Each summer, the Freshman English teachers continue to worked together to align our curriculum with common reading and writing skills across the sections!
I also love hiking in beautiful places, winning rounds in my music league (and TBH, in my Bachelor/ette fantasy league), and writing Goodreads reviews that are way too long!
Intentions for Freshman English
In freshman year, we introduce students to the reading, writing, and analysis skills they will practice throughout high school! You'll start learning multiple modes of writing, including narrative, analysis, research, and synthesis. You'll also read WIDELY and think DEEPLY about yourself, the world, and your place in the world. I can't wait to learn and grow with you!
My Goals
To create opportunities for my students to read and write and talk every day.
To help my students get into a habit of reading for pleasure. The whole point of English class is to help students become better readers and writers. The more you read, the better you are at those things.
To structure class meetings with time to get started on all skills practice. The primary "work" students will do outside of class is reading independent or common books.
How Parents Can Help
Ask your student what they're reading! What's it about? What do they like and dislike?
Help your student figure out the best time and place for reading in your home. Is after school and before dinner a good time to curl up with a book? Or will they join all the book lovers who like to read themselves to sleep at night? Is the environment quiet? Is the TV off? Are phones out of reach? Is there good light? How can they help themselves focus?
Check in with your student about ongoing assignments: No Red Ink grammar units and reading -- They should aim for 10-15 minutes a day. You can also ask to see the Google Classroom page.
Name & Pronoun Policy
You have the right to be referred to by the name and with the pronouns you are most comfortable with. If the name or pronouns listed on our roster are not how you would like to be called, you are welcome to let me know in class or through email at any time. Additionally, if I mispronounce your name, I encourage you to correct me as soon as possible.
In order to have a safe and respectful class environment, you should refer to your classmates with the names and pronouns they are most comfortable with.
A Note about Independent Reading
There is no more important homework than reading. Seriously. Research shows that the highest achieving students are those who devote free time to reading. Studies show (again and again!) that students who read for pleasure do better in reading comprehension tests than students who don’t. Reading is the best way to improve comprehension, vocabulary, reading speed, spelling, grammar, and writing style. But it isn’t just about English class! One of the few predictors of high achievement in math and science is the amount of time kids devote to reading. Reading is the only thing that will make us better readers -- faster and more fluent, purposeful, engaged, critical, and satisfied -- and better readers are better students (and people).
But won’t we be reading, like, The Great Gatsby and other hard books anyway? Here’s the thing: it isn’t enough. Experts English educators recommend a 50/50 rule: Fifty percent of reading should be the kind-of tough, complex texts we’ll read and talk about as a class, but the other fifty percent should be books you choose to read for fun. You will still learn a lot about sentence structure, grammar, and comprehension from the fun kind of reading, and even more importantly, that kind of reading builds capacity and stamina for the tougher kind of reading.
Over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to co-author and publish a pedagogy book about the importance of independent reading and collaborative reader workshop. Choice & Voice: How to Champion Lifelong Literacy through Collaborative Reader Workshop officially released on August 15, 2020. This summer I also received a Book Love Foundation grant to obtain $1000 worth of independent reading books for my classroom.
For reading ideas, check out the OPRF Choice Reading Hub with links to Goodreads descriptions/reviews, teacher book talks, and the eBook check-out system through OPRF library's SORA account.
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