She’s another product of Oklahoma public education.  In her rural school, she participated in a variety of activities and learned to love learning and serve people.  Those passions are still evident today in the classroom of this outstanding #OklahomaEducator.

Not only did she love learning but she also found her calling in sharing the value of cultural understanding and the power of communication between people of various backgrounds.  She bleeds orange from her favorite college and she lights up her classroom with excitement and enthusiasm as she regales stories about college experiences or experiences she’s shared with teachers and students on three different continents.

She has hosted, learned from and observed partner teachers from France and China.  She has shared her techniques with them but modeled for students how to share her heart.  She’s the consummate professional and pushes herself to learn new things and explore the science and art of teaching for the benefit of her students.  Already a master teacher, she went back to graduate school to learn how to help students with reading struggles just because she recognized the need.

This teacher has mentored and assisted hundreds of teachers across the state through a rigorous process of self-reflection, analysis and certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.  Teachers who have gone through this certification process have demonstrated higher gains in student achievement than even those who have participated in graduate school, and our state has been a leader in national certification in large part due to the efforts of this educator and many like her.

Students love her classroom because they know she loves them.  She builds them up.  She challenges them.  She encourages them.  She coaches them.  She believes in them.  She holds them accountable.  She prays for them.  She has them on her heart and mind and they see it.  She sponsors clubs and program and teaches many students who are first generation high school grads and college students.  She even throws herself into a student-staff basketball game with the same vitality that she brings to her classroom. 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote towards the end of World War II and the end of his life that “Today, we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world, at peace.”  Jinafer is a world language teacher but truly a cultivator of human relationships.   Jinafer is from a small Oklahoma town making a big impact in the lives of students.  She is a model and mentor for other staff.  She is truly one of the best and she’s all in for her students.  Thank you Jinafer for your compassion and professionalism.  Thank you for being a shining example in your school, your community and for each and every #OklahomaEducator You and so many like you make me #PublicSchoolProud

I’m sure you know an incredible educator like Jinafer.  Celebrate them, share their impact and tell their story!