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       Welcome!  I am the literacy coach for North Augusta Elementary School.  I grew up in Augusta and after completeing my undergraduate degree in early childhood education from Augusta State University, I moved to New York City.  I lived there for five years, while I earned a Masters degree as a literacy specialist from Columbia University's Teachers College and taught kindergarten at a public school in the south Bronx. 

      After moving back down south, I had the pleasure of teaching kindergarten here at North Augusta Elementary School during the 2017/2018 school year.  I was also very busy completing another Masters from Capella University in Educational Leadership.  This is my second year as the literacy coach and I hope to make a schoolwide impact, as I will have the capacity to work with all teachers, delivering differentiated professional development targeted towards meeting the needs of our learners.  I love our school and I am passionate about promoting literacy so that all students become successful readers and writers. 

     In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my familiy, training for marathons and triathlons, and cuddling with my dog, Lucy.  I am looking forward to the spring, when I will also be very involved with organizing our Dolphin Dash running club for first through fifth grade students.    

     If you need to contact me, please send an email to jcohen@acpsd.net.  I will always do my best to respond as promptly as possible. 

Quotes to Ponder

     "Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty.  It should be offered to them as a precious gift."  -Kate DiCamillo

     "If we adults listen and watch closely, our children will invite us to share their worlds and their ways in the world.  And then, when children become our teachers, showing us what they see and delight in and wonder about and reach toward, then, and only then, will we be able to extend what they know and enrich their ways of knowing."  -Lucy Calkins

     "Children who learn using curriculum that is based on what matters to them are more likely to feel that what they are learning is important to their lives."  -Vivan Maria Vasquez