About the Author

Janis Purnell

Currently Jan Purnell is in her first year as a gifted education instructor in grades 6-12 at Maple Avenue Middle School and Littlestown Area High School in Littlestown, Pennsylvania where she has been teaching for 24 years. She has held a variety of positions within the district including teaching 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade advanced and gifted self-contained classes. She also served a year as a Reading specialist and Testing for Essential Learning and Literacy Skills (T.E.L.L.S.) Math instructor.

She received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from York College of Pennsylvania. She received her MEq in 1996 and continues to take courses of interest, especially in the field of Technology Education. Jan has presented papers at two Middle School Level state conferences that discussed strategies for teaching reading and using technology in the social studies classroom. History has always been her first love, and she gained an appreciation for it at a young age from her father, who was a proud WWII veteran and pilot.

Jan is a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Education (PAGE). She writes a column in a local newspaper on using technology and the Internet, and is looking forward to team-teaching a course on Using Technology in the Classroom in the spring semester of 2007 at the Gettysburg campus of Harrisburg Area Community College.

She currently resides in Littlestown with her husband Michael where she pursues her interests including reading, writing, and cooking.

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