{"id":48953,"date":"2021-05-26T18:13:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T22:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=48953"},"modified":"2021-05-26T18:14:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T22:14:01","slug":"jennifer-ortega-named-2021-new-teacher-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/05\/jennifer-ortega-named-2021-new-teacher-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Ortega Named 2021 New Teacher of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Jennifer Ortega was surprised by Superintendent Dr. Greg Adkins this week with the 2021 New Teacher of the Year Award. Ortega teaches 7th grade reading at Lehigh Acres Middle School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was definitely a surprise. I\u2019m a little bit embarrassed but in a good way,\u201d Ortega said shortly after being presented her award. \u201cI always wanted to be a teacher but when I was younger I didn\u2019t feel comfortable going into teaching. I think now is the perfect time because I am older and more confident that I am able to help my students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter\" data-autoplay=\"true\" data-delay=\"3\" data-effect=\"fade\"><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container\"><ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\"><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-48955\" data-id=\"48955\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-48956\" data-id=\"48956\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GalleryPhotoModern-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-48957\" data-id=\"48957\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0435-cropped.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0435-cropped.jpg 900w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0435-cropped-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0435-cropped-768x480.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"><\/a><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Ortega is a career changer, who joined the School District in August 2020 after several years working as a retail sales manager. She has taken to imparting her love of art and literature to her students, resulting in achievement scores on par with more experienced teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Jennifer has been such a welcome addition to the LAMS family,\u201d Assistant Principal Lisanne Thomas says. \u201cShe has embraced her role as reading teacher, been consistent in her instruction, and integrated into our core group of leaders. She has implemented blended classrooms with skill and grace rivaling a seasoned teacher. She has the potential to become a guidepost and mentor for others.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lee County New Teacher of the Year program recognizes newly certified personnel for the significant contributions they make to their school and The School District of Lee County. First year teachers were nominated by their administrators, a selection committee picked the finalists, and then interviewed them to choose the third annual award winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe division of human resources wants to positively highlight the teaching profession,\u201d says Chief Human Resource Officer Dr. Angela Pruitt. \u201cSince it is a critically important time to hire great teachers for our children, we want to shine a light on a deserving beginning teacher to assist with recruitment and retention into the field of education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jennifer Ortega was surprised by Superintendent Dr. Greg Adkins this week with the 2021 New Teacher of the Year Award. Ortega teaches 7th grade reading at Lehigh Acres Middle School.&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32,85],"tags":[329],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48958,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48953\/revisions\/48958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}