Excellence in teaching
Humor, caring add to dental hygiene instructor’s success
by Diana De Leon, Feature Editor

   Four faculty members received the highest teaching award given by Tarrant County College, the Chancellor’s Award, at the May commencement.
   The award recognizes faculty who demonstrate a strong commitment and dedication to the ideal of teaching.
   Started by founding Chancel-lor Joe B. Rushing in 1986, the award is given to one instructor from each campus annually.
   Winners are determined by an anonymous committee who closely scrutinizes the attributes and qualifications of each nominee.
   This is the fourth and the last in a series profiling the winners.
   
    Jackie Johnson describes herself as a teacher energized by the daily interaction with students.
    “I love to teach, it is fun,” she said. “I can’t imagine it not being fun, so I will be here awhile.”
   An associate professor of health science on NE Campus for 25 years, Johnson has been nominated for the Chancellor’s Award before, but this is her first win.
   Johnson tries to make a connection with each student and believes each one is unique.
   Johnson’s student evaluations have been consistently high.
   Students are amazed by her ability to remember even the smallest details of past conversations.
   Johnson not only mentors but listens.
   “Honestly, you are the most encouraging instructor, a great advisor and a fountain of information,” former student Stacy Hachtel wrote about Johnson.
   The board exam for dental hygiene students often causes stress, but Johnson takes time to help students study for the exam.
   “I know many students soar on wings that you so diligently and caringly fostered,” former student Tammy Lindley wrote.
   Johnson believes learning and teaching must be fun to hold students’ interest. Therefore, she uses interesting and sometimes funny stories students can relate to.
   “I am not averse to using myself in a foolish way,” she said. “Humor crosses all ages and stages.”
   She invented Pajama Day to accompany lectures on sedatives and hypnotics, just one analogy for a difficult scientific concept.
   The Jeopardy game helps students review concepts, and motivational speakers visit before an exam to encourage students—two other ways Johnson enhances learning.
   Johnson’s creative teaching is just one attribute colleagues notice.
   Barbara Shearer, coordinator of the dental hygiene program on NE Campus, believes Johnson is an excellent teacher.
   “She has a unique way of teaching,” she said. “She puts material together in a way that students will remember it forever.”
   George Shaw, director of health sciences, has seen her in action.
   “She uses humor to make points that stick in your mind,” he said. “I am happy that she won.”
   Johnson says she loves her job, partly because she helps students learn a skill that translates into providing for their families.
   Students return to talk about their new lives and careers with a teacher who helped make it happen.
   Johnson measures her teaching success by her students’ success.
   “She has graduates working in the community who still remember how to connect things together,” Shearer said.
   Johnson holds a dental hygiene license in three states and has extensive work experience along with her teaching experience.
   “I want to dispel the myth that those who can’t, teach,” she said. Johnson works hand in hand with students to manage the care of TCC Dental Clinic patients. Some have been patients for 25 years.
   Community involvement is another aspect of the Chancellor’s Award, and Johnson literally runs for the community.
   Johnson participates in many local races that benefit several different charities.
   Exercise is a priority in her life, and she is in the NE Campus gym when not in the classroom.
   “I love the gym. Exercise helps me to keep a positive perspective,” she said.
   She coordinates registration and prizes for the NE Annual Heart Walk and encourages students to participate.
   “Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?” is a favorite motivational saying written by Tracie Wristen, a former student.
   Johnson speaks in the community on women’s issues and apartheid, and she mentors a student at Hurst Junior High School.
   Johnson is also actively involved in life and academia on the NE Campus starting with the service learning program.
   “We all steer students to service learning,” she said. “I love it when a dental hygiene student really becomes involved in service learning.”
   She is faculty advisor for the student dental hygiene professional club (SADHA) and is on the retention and recruitment committee.
   Johnson has authored many publications related to the dental hygiene program as well as articles published in Twelfth Night, a local dental society journal.
   She has aided many instructors, past and present, on curriculum design, syllabus construction and evaluation measures.
   “I have a great group of colleagues to work with,” she said. “We are always trying to make things better.”
   Johnson is a graduate of Baylor University, North Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota.
   She is thrilled to have won the Chancellor’s Award and displays the plaque in her office among numerous other teaching awards.
   The prize money is going to help restore a home, which was built around the late 1800s in South Dakota. But Johnson’s favorite reward is teaching.
   “It is all about the students,” she said. “We have the best little dental hygiene school in Texas.”