Jason Martin-Language Arts Teacher
Jason is thrilled to return to French Broad River Academy in a full-time capacity, teaching 6th, 7th , and 8th grade Language Arts. In addition, Jason has been assigned a leadership role in developing the academic curriculum across grade levels and subjects, and in training new faculty members in the basics of the FBRA culture and the pathway to becoming Master Teachers who make significant long-term impacts in the lives of our students. Sharing a background within the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) with both the director and co-founder, he brings eight years of teaching experience from across grade levels into his role as Language Arts teacher. He also serves as Lead Music Instructor for FBRA’s amazing contemporary music program.A founding teacher of KIPP: Asheville Youth Academy, Martin was distinguished as one of 14 national recipients of the $10,000 Kinder Award For Excellence in Teaching in 2004. This came a year after leading a group of 56 students to increases from 44% to more than 80% at or above grade level in 5th grade reading as measured by the NC End-of-Grade Tests.
Martin taught Language Arts and Social Studies to grades 5-6, as well as specialized classes for grade 7 including small group studies of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens among other classic authors. Combining this approach with rigorous non-fiction readings of high-interest current events, personalized student writing conferencing, and highly-engaging arts-integrated lessons, Martin’s classes were praised during his critique by the British Inspection style evaluation of his classes at KIPP, where FBRA founder Will Yeiser was the Spanish teacher at the time.
Martin also taught Academically Gifted, Standard Level, and Remedial English in grade 8 at East McDowell Junior High School in Marion, NC, for four years. During that period his classes achieved the top writing scores on the locally administered test, and he helped start a student-created Literary Magazine, financing its publication with proceeds from a student-produced Talent Competition.
This was the first public school teaching job for Martin, after spending successive summers travelling the state as one of 70 hand-picked experts and artists to train teachers in the North Carolina A+ Schools network in arts integration strategies. Filmmaking as an Instructional Tool, Painting Literary Murals, and Blues Songwriting in Classroom were only a few of the workshops that Martin taught to hundreds of teachers from across the state.
He also taught Remedial Composition classes to incoming freshmen at his alma mater, Mars Hill College, as part of the Summer Academic Enrichment Program. This diverse teaching background, combined with his irrepressible zeal for the world of ideas, art, and music, makes Jason an invaluable member of our amazing faculty.
JRM paints a watercolor at the north ridge of The Grand Canyon, July 2011