Having been raised in Reno County, KS, and living here her entire life, Judy Henry has taught for more than thirty years, all in Reno County, KS, schools. Over the years, she has taught all subjects grades 4-8. For five years, she taught in a "no graded/ progressive" school, which was based entirely upon mastery learning principles where students were intermixed by age/ grade based upon skills' needs. However, her forte is definitely in the language arts realm and the middle school years. Her educational pursuits include a Bachelor's in Education from Sterling College and a Master's in Education from Friends University.
In response to her students' needs, Judy has created a writing/ reading process, called RAINBOWing: "See" Writing/ Reading with COLOR!!!, that uses 8 basic colors in a marker set to analyze writing from beginning to advanced levels; it coordinates a multiple of learning modes to integrate communication skills with numerous real-life activities. In 1999, she began facilitating workshops (1-2-3-4 days with varying levels and applications) across Kansas and also in Missouri and Arizona to educators, primary through college level, and foreign language as well as ESL teachers; these include educational service facilities as well as directly with full and partial faculties in specific districts with hopes to take it to a national/ international level. This program addresses all levels of students and is coordinated with the writing process steps and the 6+1 Trait Writing model; she also includes ideas for identifying/ reinforcing state reading and writing objectives. A CD includes multiple levels of activities, graphic organizers, lessons, charts, pictures, and particularly, three RAINBOWing Resource Books, one each for primary, intermediate, and advanced, which she has composed; excitedly, it now includes a computer program where RBing can now be done on WORD documents! She has also facilitated workshops in the Lexile Framework at Essdack in Hutchinson, KS, and conducted science training at KSDE activites.
A variety of trainings in which Judy has been involved include the Kagan's Model of Cooperative Learning, 6+1 Trait Writing, and 6 Trait Reading, along with a many other strategies and interventions.
Over the years, Judy has worked with a number of KSDE activities in Topeka. She served on a state writing committee for revising the state writing standards, the writing rubrics, and presented these to the state BOE. Other activities involve the participation in multiple state evaluations for state writings, grades 5, 8, 10. Currently, she continues evaluating KPAs thrice annually as well is one of the selected state mentors for this those desiring assistance in this process.
Summertime activities involve more than ten years of teaching English to incoming foreign exchange students on the nation's east coast; these have included camps at Yale University in CN, Bryant University in RI, and currently, Norwich University in VT, where she is the English Department Head/ teacher for EF Language and Culture Camps. Among her duties is writing and revising the curriculum used at camps here in the USA and also in Canada and Australia. Hosting foreign exchange students in her home (Chile, Mexico, and Germany) as well as an adult teacher intern from Japan has been rewarding to her life and her students. Traveling domestically (49 of 50 states), for instance an annual trip to DC/ Colonial Williamsburg in VA, and now NYC has been available for her middle school students/ parents, and also internationally (27 countries) allows her to "open the windows/ doors" to her students back in her classroom. In fact, she wrote and published a resource book on Alaska, UNIQUELY ALASKA, in July 2004, which is targeted for the intermediate reader, as requested.
Judy Henry was selected to receive the state award, EXEMPLARY TEACHER Class I-IV Kansas Schools, in October 2000 at Kansas State University for that year. In addition, she was a awarded a Fullbright Memorial Fund work/study in Japan in October 2002, one of 200 awarded nationally.