GRANGER -- Joanna Azar, a South Bend native with a master’s degree in education from Indiana University in Bloomington, has taught elementary students in Indianapolis, middle school students in Michiana, and gifted second- and third- graders around the world online.
Starting this summer, she plans to teach Michiana students online through her recently launched www.ANovelTime.com and a curriculum she has developed in the past two years.
“I thought it would be cool to have in Michiana – kids that do a lot of reading and writing and talking about it,” says Azar, whose three sons are ages 5, 3 and 1. “I wanted to be able to it for not just gifted kids. There are a lot of kids that like to read and write.”
When she was expecting her first child, Azar, who had taught for eight years in elementary and middle schools, started working for Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth Online. The upscale program involved second- and third-graders from such places as China, Korea and the United Arab Emirates who were working at a sixth-grade level.
“I made time over the last year or two to put together my own curriculum that I wanted to start offering for summer enrichment,” an alternative to test-aimed remedial summer programs, she says.
“I think it could really help kids that are already passing the test and need some enrichment over the summer. Working parents can feel like their kids are getting a pretty valid language arts education over the summer.”
The inaugural sessions, called the Summer of Suspicion, focus on mystery books, with one classic and one more recent familiar text for each age category – fourth- and fifth- or sixth- and seventh-graders.
Students will log on to a password-protected classroom of up to 15 students where they will get reading assignment, select from critical writing discussion questions and find a creative writing challenge.
“At the end of each week, the child and the parent will get feedback from me – strong writing points, what to work on the next week to progress through the summer,” Azar says.
In addition to posting their own responses, the students are encouraged to interact with others in the class.
“They’re in an environment where everyone feels comfortable and wants to have a conversation,” she says, adding that the experience prepares student for online learning that will continue through college and graduate school. “It’s definitely a wave of the future. It’s comfortable discussing online.”