Jamie Martin grew up in the smaller town of Hamlet, Indiana. For her pre-college education, she attended schools in the Oregon-Davis district. When the time to take the next steps came, she started studying at Valparaiso University (VU), which really introduced her to the Region.
Martin transferred from Valparaiso after a year. She then attended Franklin College in Franklin, Ind., where she got her bachelor’s in physical education (P.E.) and health. An internship experience where she worked with an adaptive P.E. class inspired her to further her studies. She decided to get both a master’s degree in special education and an administrator’s license from Indiana University South Bend.
Martin was an applied-skills teacher at the elementary level in Portage for 13 years. She made the shift to teaching at Cooks Corners Elementary School in Valparaiso in 2016. She’s been at the forefront of numerous classroom environments since the conclusion of her undergraduate days.
Instructing kindergarten-age learners and fifth-graders alike, Martin’s been conditioned to best serve her students in the nearly 10 years she’s been in her current role. She’s done that by organizing thought-provoking tasks and analyzing behaviors, evaluating the whole time how to most effectively get across to kids with mild, moderate, and severe intellectual disabilities. She’s enjoyed it all, to say the least.
“I get to build such good relationships with the children. It’s amazing to see who they were when they came in and compare that to the person they grow into,” she said. “It’s also about the relationships I’ve built with the families. I’m fortunate to have all those connections.”
Keeping up with the times is another component of Martin’s work. She’s constantly attempting to offer variety as an educator, however that may look. Because of the various, distinctive comportments she’s witnessed, a regular day on the job could become a matter of experimentation. She oversees working adults, too.
“There are so many different behaviors that I come across, so I have to keep trying out new things to see what works for each child,” she said. “I make sure the paraprofessionals are doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Benefiting these children is at the top for us, and we adhere to everybody’s needs.”
Two of Martin’s teachers inspired her to pursue this path. Both of them, one in biology and the other in English, remain in her past, but the impacts they made have landed in the future. She cites them as reasons for why she’s still goal-driven.
“I knew in high school I’d one day want to help others. I used to find myself in trigonometry class helping the students, because back then teachers didn’t know how to navigate differentiated instruction,” she said. “My being a teacher came from that love of helping my peers understand the curriculums.”
Martin enjoys spending her free time with her son. She likes to travel, having done a couple of road trips out to Wyoming, Florida, and New York in recent years. Her three dogs keep her company with their play when she’s at home.
Martin was once a cheerleader. She was on the cheerleading squad that saw Valparaiso’s first trip to the NCAA tournament with star player Bryce Drew. She played volleyball collegiately after she made the move to Franklin.
Martin’s thankful for the local school administration in Valpo, and she sees the growth in the program she runs as a testament to what the city has to contribute to its residents.
“I love the family support I receive, being a teacher here. Our program has grown so much, and seeing that over these last nine years has been amazing. It’s the community and the people within that make everything as strong as it is” she said.