Dwight Jinright and Stephanie T. Guyton
Dwight Jinright and Stephanie T. Guyton are both pursuing the
Education Specialist degree at Montevallo. They recently collaborated on a
research project titled “The Effects of Multi-Tiered Intervention on the
Self-Efficacy and Motivation of Fourth-Grade Readers.” Jinright is the assistant director of the UM Regional In-Service
Education Center. He has worked in education for nearly 17 years, 11 and a half
years teaching chemistry, three years working for Alabama Science in Motion, and
nearly two years working at the In-Service Center.
Guyton is a fourth grade teacher at Gresham Elementary School in
Jefferson County. She earned her M.Ed. from UM and said “the wealth of
knowledge and the valuable insight gained” in the master’s program brought her
to the realization “that any expertise which I might have gained would enable me
to share with and to help other teachers.” Last year, Guyton’s school implemented the Response to Intervention
(RtI) program, “a multi-tiered intervention program that helps students who are
struggling in certain content areas.” For their research project, Guyton and
Jinright focused on the RtI program’s effect on “students’ motivation and
self-efficacy with regards to reading.”
Jinright attributes his passion for education to the inspiration of
two teachers, Connie (Croy) Hammond, his band instructor in grades 7-9, and
Jennie (McConnell) Stowers, his science teacher for grades 7, 10, and 12. “Both
instilled in me a desire for learning and set the example of the caring and
competent educator I knew I aspired to be,” he said. For Guyton, teaching ran in her family. Both her mother and
paternal grandmother were teachers. “They were smart, independent, well-rounded
and loved what they did,” Guyton said. “Subsequently, in continuing my
education I have been overwhelmed by the attention, assistance and willingness
of the professors and advisers at UM who have guided me toward an advanced
degree.”
Both Jinright and Guyton have plans to pursue Ph.D. programs in the
near future. |
