LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Jennifer Mosely was nominated anonymously.

Ms. Mosely believes a positive classroom environment is essential to promote academic and social progress. A student who enjoys coming to class is more likely to show a willingness to learn. She uses earned daily points for students to gain access to tangible (such as a treasure box) and intangible (such as sitting in a teacher chair) rewards.

While earning rewards does advance a feeling of a positive classroom environment in the short term, her ultimate goal is to nurture a strong sense of positive self-worth and intrinsic motivation to mold her students into lifelong learners. She accomplishes this goal by pairing any extrinsic reward with excessive verbal praise. This verbal praise comes not only from Ms. Mosely, but from the other students, who are encouraged to provide their classmates with compliments.

She believes that students who praise each other learn empathy for how it feels to celebrate others as well as self-compassion for how it feels to be celebrated. Ms. Mosely knows that a student who understands the feelings of empathy, self-compassion, and positive self-worth is a student who uses school to their full advantage for learning. She feels that it is a teacher's job to facilitate students' academic and social-emotional growth, creating a positive classroom environment.

Due to her commitment to teaching, Mosely has been awarded Campus Teacher of the Year and was a Leadership Development Academy Participant for the 2023-2024 school year. She was a Heart at Work Recipient 14 times between March 2022 and October 2024, and a 2022 Keller Education Foundation Grant Recipient.