Dr. Jurenka

Written By: Jennifer Appel

​“I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.”
-John Wooden

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From the time I can remember, I desperately wanted to be a teacher.  Thus, when I deciding on colleges, I was focused exclusively on the schools with stellar education programs.  After a pros/cons list and careful reflection, I decided on Central Washington University. While I had some struggles in college at the beginning (a blog post for another time), I was able to get into the education program and was so overjoyed to finally be on my way to realizing my dream of becoming a teacher.  I always wanted to teach little ones (2nd grade was my dream) maybe willing to teach 3rd grade (Ironically, I’ve ended up spending most of my career working with middle school kids and loved every minute of it). Reading was a strong passion and I believed I had something unique to offer future students...
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With this decision a new course of classes in reading came my way.  In one of my early courses, I was introduced to my first professor in the reading department, Dr. Jurenka.  She was a cute little older woman in her early 60’s that had been in education for years and seemed to know EVERYTHING about KIDS and READING.  I was a little intimidated on the very first day of class, but also believed this is where I was supposed to be so elected to try and hide any feelings of intimidation.  She was not like other professors I’d encountered; she didn’t start out with the syllabus, or lecture, she came right in and asked  our college class a direct question:
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“What is the most popular book for 5th grade boys?”
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