Hello! My name is Jennifer Gast! I am excited to be in my second year here at St. George! My teaching experience includes a year in Dorchester, MA (which is a section in the south end of Boston) where I was teaching 5th and 6th grade Science, teaching math, science and social studies overseas in Kazakhstan and Kuwait, secondary Science and History in New Haven, CT at a Charter Magnet High school and also at Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City, where I was the 7th and 8th grade Science teacher! I have a Bachelors in Secondary Education from Taylor University and a Masters in Educational Theory and Practice from Arkansas State. I am a firm believer in the importance of community in education and in life, and am excited to again be joining a community in the Diocese of Jefferson City, it feels a bit like coming home! Besides teaching, God has opened doors to serve in youth ministry, missions across the globe and my favorite odd job - coffee shop barista (I really do love coffee!) I hope to bring to the Junior High my experience and love of this world God has created, including the people in it!! And to bring to the community another individual dedicated to knowing and serving God and learning to live a life of righteousness and justice as we do life together. (Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8) I am coming to Jefferson City with my cat, Dahesh, he was a rescue from Kuwait :) and has traveled the world with me! The rest of my immediate family, including my parents, sister and her family and brother and his family, all live in Connecticut. I come from a family of faith-filled service-oriented professionals. My father is a pastor, my brother is also a teacher and my sister is a paramedic. We all love to travel, learn about communities we live in and visit and we all love animals!! I am so excited to be continuing at St. George as the 8th grade homeroom and Junior High Math and Science teacher. I want to use my knowledge to improve critical thinking, approach problem solving and deeper application skills in all content areas, getting students ready for the challenge of High School!! We will work together to deepen our understanding of text, write more detailed paragraphs with our own reasoning, solve and explain multi-step math problems and of course investigate scientific ideas and skills!! We will also increase our note-taking and study skills, always learning to be even more independent learners!