Jamee Barton
Greetings friends. My name is Jamee Barton and for almost three years I have been a literacy consultant at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), with an emphasis on the middle grades. I love all children, but middle school kids make me laugh.
I have been an educator for 27 years. I have a bachelor’s degree in English and sociology, and a master’s degree in English education from Eastern Kentucky University. After graduating, I started teaching 7th- and 8th-grade language arts at Madison Middle School (Madison County). I worked on the original portfolio project and loved every minute of it.
After nine years, I left Madison Middle and worked at the Region Five Service Center (KDE) as a writing consultant. Once my memorandum of agreement expired, I worked as a literacy coach in Madison County and spent the eight years prior to returning to KDE at Bryan Station High School (Fayette County) as the academic dean.
My husband and I live in Richmond. I have two handsome sons, Andrew (16) and Heath (14). When I find a minute to relax, I love to read and I am a fanatic about cross-stitch and needlepoint.
This is a very exciting time to be an educator. Every day we are changing lives and helping students prepare for transitions to the real world. My job is an adventure each day. I look forward to answering any questions or concerns from you and I hope to meet you in person. Contact me at Jamee.barton@education.ky.gov.
Whitney Hamilton
Welcome, readers! I’m Whitney Hamilton, the newest member of the literacy team here at KDE.
Born and raised in Richmond, I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education at Eastern Kentucky University in May 2002 and May 2006. I still reside there today with my two children, a dog, a cat, four chickens and a goldfish. I’m excited to extend my passion for teaching and my knowledge of elementary-aged readers and writers to the department and you, Kentucky teachers, as your elementary literacy consultant.
I have 15 years of elementary teaching experience, all at Kit Carson Elementary (Madison County). Literacy is my strongest educational interest and was also my content focus while earning my Rank I certification through the Continuing Education Option (CEO) in July 2009.
My CEO work pushed me professionally and made me even more reflective of my instructional practices so that I became a more intentional teacher. I attribute this and many other experiences to developing me professionally, but I would have to say the two professional learning experiences that shaped my teaching most were the Kentucky Reading and Kentucky Writing projects at Eastern Kentucky University. I always say I’m so thankful for the opportunity to join the writing project after just one year of teaching because it impacted my teaching practice in such a positive way that I wouldn’t have wanted to go on teaching any more students without the knowledge I gained from the program.
My first 11 years teaching were in a self-contained classroom, where I enjoyed teaching all subjects to my 3rd-graders. The last four years were spent teaching English language arts in 3rd grade, primarily reading.
I’ve heard that often what you struggle with as a child, you tend to want to help others with later in life. Well, I would say that’s definitely true for me. Although I was passionate about writing and considered myself a good writer, I was fully aware of my struggles with comprehension and spent more time trying to hide my difficulties than overcome them.
Because I know what it’s like to struggle, I’m happiest when I’m able to equip youngsters with the tools to connect with text and make sense of what they’re reading. I’m just as happy when I’m able to coach a fellow teacher or one of my mentees in implementing a strategy that improves teaching and learning.
The combination of my desire to help others and thirst for learning inspired me to begin course work toward an education specialist degree leading to principal certification at Eastern Kentucky University last fall. I expect to complete this work in May of 2018.
For now, eager doesn’t quite explain how excited I am to be here at KDE, and I am ready to be of service to you. Please let me know how I can help by emailing me at whitney.hamilton@education.ky.gov.
Micki Ray
Hello, all! My name is Micki Ray and I started my KDE literacy consultant position with an emphasis on secondary education on May 1. I have a heart for high school students and my fellow high school teachers. Those four years are critical for student learning, growth and personal discovery.
In terms of my educational background, I earned my bachelor’s in English from Georgetown College in 2001, and I earned my master’s in secondary English education from the University of Kentucky in 2002.
Before starting at KDE, I worked as an English teacher for 11 years at Anderson County High School in my hometown of Lawrenceburg. I taught a variety of classes, including English I, English III, AP English Language and Composition, and English IV.
In 2013, I taught English 101 and 102 as an adjunct professor at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. Most recently, I worked three years at Scott County High School teaching English II, English III, and AP English Language and Composition.
My husband Shawn and I now reside in Lexington. I love to read, of course, but I also enjoy baking. Together, we love to travel. I have visited 31 countries. Seeing different parts of the world and experiencing other cultures is extremely rewarding for us.
My new focus, though, is you – finding ways and opportunities to assist and support you as Kentucky teachers. I hope to be able to meet and work with more of you in this role. Thank you for reading, and please feel free to contact me at micki.ray@education.ky.gov.
Teresa Rogers
Greetings, everyone. My name is Teresa Rogers. I have served as a literacy consultant since September 2012.
During the past few years, the majority of my work revolved around the Writing Program Review, which afforded an opportunity for great conversations with teachers and educators across the state as they shared the successes and struggles of developing proficient writers. These insights continues to inform the direction and nature of my work at KDE.
My post-secondary education began with an associates in nursing from Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College in 1980, after which I worked as a registered nurse in local hospitals. However, after 12 years of nursing, I decided to pursue another passion – teaching. I earned a vocational teaching certificate and my bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University and taught health sciences for 15 years.
I developed an interest in special education and in 2012, completed my master’s degree in learning and behavioral disorders from Campbellsville University. In order to become more effective in this role, I participated in both the Kentucky Reading Project and the Mountain Writing Project. I earned my Rank I through the Education Professional Standards Board’s Continuing Education Option through a professional growth plan focused on developing the skills of struggling writers. As a teacher, I served in the resource room and collaborative settings at both the elementary and high school levels.
Because of my background, along with the shifts in the Kentucky Academic Standards, much of my professional learning is concentrated on disciplinary literacy. Different from content literacy – which focuses on adapting reading strategies to the content areas – disciplinary literacy emphasizes the authentic practice of literacy as a tool for building and communicating knowledge within the disciplines. As part of this work, I recently completed my Literacy Design Collaborative coaching certification and will be working to develop tools and resources for educators.
Please feel free to contact me at Teresa.Rogers@education.ky.gov.
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