Lisa D. Ratcliff
Teaching gives me the opportunity to share a love for literature, literary analysis, and the writing process of composition. Engaging literary experiences encourage children to transition from learning to read to reading to learn through relevant engagement and the efficacy to succeed with the mastery of literacy skills. Instruction is the means of opening academic possibilities and the foundation for the confidence necessary to achieve overall student success.
My teaching style is one of structured freedom within the classroom. I provide room for students to explore literature through activities such as reflective journaling, self-selected reading, literature circle discussions, and digital means communication such as social networking, presentation, and means of assessment. I also allow the freedom of voice in learning through the written exploration, analysis, and evaluation of the literary and informational text.
A native of Bluefield, West Virginia, I attended three different schools in three different states before graduating high school in 1990. Schools that I attended were Montcalm Elementary School and Montcalm High School in Montcalm, West Virginia, Mullins High School in Pikeville, Kentucky, and Stratford High School in Ladson, South Carolina. Upon relocating to North Carolina, I attended Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I received my Bachelor of Arts in English Degree in 2002 and Master of Arts in Teaching Degree in 2013.
I am currently employed at John F. Kennedy High School where I teach 8th grade Language Arts and 9th grade English I in the LEAP program. LEAP is an alternative education program developed to provide two years of instruction in one academic year as a means for previously retained students to graduate on their initially given date of graduation. I’m a teacher of children before any given content area and believe that the student is always the most important person in the classroom.
