LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Jennifer Barton was nominated anonymously.

Ms. Barton's classroom is a home away from home and a safe place for students to learn, congregate before school, after school, and during lunch. Her students say her classroom is calming and comforting. She encourages students to engage with one another regularly, calling each other by name and focusing on the process of discovery rather than identifying the correct answer. She welcomes student guesses, almost right answers, and everything in between, as she loves hearing students think through something aloud. It is in these vulnerable moments that they learn to trust each other.

Additionally, she has a clean, organized, and beautiful space with student work displayed, gold-framed images and sayings on the wall gallery-style, canvas artwork, and cascading lights. It is through classroom ambiance that her students understand how much she cares about them and what they are there to do each day.

Mrs. Barton has been teaching at Coronado High School since 2008, just after completing her student teaching there. Her most valuable accomplishments are reflected in the words of her students, both current and former. She has a keepsake box filled with physical notes from students over the years, as well as a folder of emails she has received from students, filled with gratitude and appreciation.