Jennifer Hartwig's Professional Portfolio

Connections turn the world. They are what form relationships, what link our history to our future, and what link our prior knowledge to our new knowledge. Connections help us live and learn. It is the connections in my life that have formed my cumulative experience in education, parenting, the business world, and community involvement. I desire to use all of these connections each day to be the best, most effective teacher I can be to educate, enlighten, and empower our youth of today.

My connections started as I grew up a farmer’s daughter in Northwest Iowa, graduated from a small school in Alta, Iowa, and started college. After one year at Iowa State, I married, started a career in the legal field, and then started my family. After 17 years of parenting, working in the business field, and contributing to the local community, I felt the strong call to teaching. In order to accomplish this goal, I worked full time in education while simultaneously working full time on completing my teaching certificate. Once completed with my teaching certificate, I immediately began working toward achieving my Master of Arts in English in order to gain expertise to match my passion for high school English literature and writing. Each of these difficult but fruitful tasks allowed me the opportunity to connect and apply the knowledge gained from my education to the experiences gained while working in education, a truly unique opportunity that not many teachers have been blessed with and one I am confident has made me a better teacher.

My family is the strongest connection to who I am today. My husband Rod (since 1987) and my children (Jacob 1990, Alexandra 1993, and Jessica 2000) have supported and inspired me tremendously in my goal of becoming a teacher. In addition, I am continually inspired by all the students I have served in my position as English teacher and ELL coordinator. Since 2005, I have served in a number of educational roles: ELL coordinator, ESL teacher, high school English teacher, middle school literacy teacher, mentor teacher, and model educator for Atlantic Community Schools. The connections I now have to the students, their families, and the rest of the world through them have changed and grown the person I am today. I truly love being able to work with all students and their families.

I believe all these connections between my family, my education, and my work (in both the business and education worlds) have formed a strong and unique learning experience in becoming the motivated, creative, connected teacher I am today. I believe you will see these connections as you move through my portfolio, starting with my resume and profile and working through the artifacts and reflections for each Iowa teaching standard.

It would be my pleasure to connect with you further, either by phone (712-249-3832) or by email. Thank you for your consideration.