Janet E. Ramont ramont_janet@nlmusd.k12.ca.us 8th Grade  Social Studies /Language Arts Norwalk-La Mirada  Unified School District La Mirada, CA

Where I've Been
I was born and raised in Anaheim, California, and I have spend nearly all my life living in Southern California. I have traveled to Japan, Germany, Mexico, and Canada, as well as throughout the Atlantic states. I have a particular affinity for New England where the grass and greenery far outnumbers the glass and concrete. I now live in Long Beach where at least I have an ocean breeze to keep me cool, though I trade that for the 45 minute commute to La Mirada.  I began my career quest as a photojournalist and suddenly found myself a teacher. I guess it is a profession that chooses you.

My Life as an Educator

I have been teaching for ten years, first as a high school English teacher, and the past eight years as a middle school teacher.  My favorite age group is 8th graders, and I particularly enjoy teaching social studies, U.S. history, earth science and astronomy. MY students agree with me unequivocally when I say that I am weird.  I tell them that being different is what makes us all unique and that they should learn to embrace their own "weirdness. "My most memorable assignment was part of a History Alive lesson on taxation without representation. The students were told that they would have to pay 10 cents for the quiz handout and if they refused to pay they would get a Zero on the quiz.  The students in my homeroom who chose not to take the quiz immediately started making protest posters and putting them up all over the room and outside the door.  They did all this quietly without disrupting those students who were taking the test.  After the lesson I explained that this was a simulation and asked them to please not let any of the students in the other classes in on the secret because I would be doing the lesson for those students after snack.  My homeroom students then left the class at snack complaining to their peers about this "10 cent tax on paper" and led all the unsuspecting students in an impromptu protest rally in the quad. I had quite a bit of damage control to deal with in the office that day, but the learning experience and the immersion by those ambitious homeroom students was well worth it.

When I'm Not Working...

When I am not teaching, I am working on my poetry, writing and photography, or I am in the process of rescuing some dog or cat.  I also play golf (badly), bowl (with mediocrity) and surf (the net).  All this exercise and I still can't seem to lose a pound!

Web Sites I Like

• The NASA Spacelink page provides many hands on activities for students as well as links to hundreds of other NASA and JPL web pages.
• Tootsie.com is the homepage for Tootsie Roll.  Take a trip into the past and see if you can discover how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
• Trenchcoat Artist is a web page of  my photographs and poetry.
• Backflip is a great way to store all your bookmarks on line.
• Cite Your Source is a great resource for how to cite different sources.