By JORDAN NELSON
The Register-Herald
(Register-Herald photo by Chris Jackson)
BECKLEY, W.Va. — “The Big Orange Splot,” a children’s picture book by Daniel Manus Pinkwater, was a game-changer for Jordan Manning. It was a book leading to the official decision of what she wanted to do with her life — become a teacher and change the lives of students who call West Virginia home. ¶ Manning, a third-grade teacher at Berlin-McKinney Elementary School in Wyoming County, roams the halls daily of the same school she attended as a child. At first, she had a passion to be a journalist. But during college, a summer job with Energy Express changed her thinking.
“We were working with a group of first- and second-grade students, and there was one little boy you could just tell had had a bad experience in school,” Manning explained. “He would barely speak or read, and would just grunt and make faces at me all day long.”
It wasn’t until “The Big Orange Splot” made it to the forefront of discussion after four weeks of reading that the little boy’s personality began to emerge.
Read the entire article: http://www.register-herald.com/news/second-year-teacher-challenges-state-legislators-to-take-on-her/article_daeaf7f2-b0b7-59ac-84e1-30ec16f002b8.html
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