Jane Bray Nelson
2002 Inductee

Physics - University High School
Orlando, Florida
Total years as a classroom teacher: 25

"I believe that my personal charge as a teacher is to guarantee that all children continue asking questions because they have experienced the joy of discovering answers." - Jane Bray Nelson

Jane Bray Nelson conducts her classes with the theory that she is teaching students first and physics second. Jane also believes that her 'children' are a living message that she sends to a time and place which she will never see.

Her students have won honors from the Physics Olympics, been selected to study at a national research lab, and won the medicine division of the International Science Fair. Three times as many students pass the advanced placement exam as did three years ago.

Jane was instrumental in developing the focus school that was granted official countywide magnet school status after only one year. She also was asked to be the teacher-coordinator of the magnet school.

Nelson received a TAPESTRY grant of $10,000 from Toyota, an award of $2,5000 as a Tandy Scholar and has been given several $1,000 grants by the Superintendent to use for lab materials.

"One thing I adore is that she has wonderful, creative ways of explaining physics concepts that help students to remember them. To illustrate (a difficult) formula and help us memorize it, Mrs. Nelson used glitter pens to write it on a stuffed animal (a cat). She kept it on display during that chapter in the front of her classroom on her desk, and honestly, I don't think I'll ever forget that equation. She challenges her students and makes them realize that their limits are self-created, that it takes only sincere effort and interest to succeed in the classroom."--Vivek Kalia, Student

"Jane's class is the only place in high school where a simple elementary-school reward sticker becomes a prized possession, for it means that a student has earned a high score on a difficult exam." --Kathleen Richardville, Colleague

"Her openness to new ideas, her enthusiasm for learning, her ability to innovate on a shoestring budget, her contagious smile and sense of the fun of physics are all qualities we wish all teachers possessed in the abundance Jane Nelson exhibits." --Anna D. Diaz, Principal

Education

Teaching Experience

Special Honors, Awards and Presentations