Jill Boyd Pavich has a bachelor’s degree in grades 6-12 Language Arts education from Kent State University in Ohio, and a master’s degree in curriculum design from Florida Atlantic University in Florida. She obtained her National Board Certification in 2009 and is both Reading and English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsed. She is course trained in AICE General Paper, AICE Global Perspectives & Research, and AP Seminar.
A 12-year veteran of teaching, Jill has a wide range of experiences in the classroom. Prior to her departure from the classroom to consult and train full-time, she spearheaded three, collegiately-geared programs at her high school in Boca Raton, Florida: she was the team leader and curriculum designer for two courses that are part of the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) program, offered through Cambridge International Exams; and she was a Department Head for the Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone program at her school as well as the team leader for the AP Seminar portion of this pioneering curriculum.
In her classroom, Jill developed a “Global Writing Block,” which fuses together these three curriculums for a seamless, cross-curricular approach to writing instruction. She encourages a student-centered approach to learning where students become not only problem-solvers but also problem-finders and deep thinkers. Over the past two school years of implementing this block, Jill’s students maintained an average pass rate of 100% for the AICE courses and an average of 90% for AP. All of her learners are freshmen.
Outside the classroom, Jill has dedicated herself to her community of teachers by sharing resources and providing professional support and development opportunities. In 2012, she created a blog for writing teachers called The Global Pen, which has given her the opportunity to share and swap innovative ideas and resources with her local base in Florida, to her peers internationally in locations like Canada, Singapore, and Egypt. Statewide, she has been a lead facilitator for Cambridge University’s ‘Best Practices’ workshops since 2012, and locally, a district ‘Roundtable’ leader since 2014. Jill co-presented at the AP Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, in 2016 for AP Seminar.
Jill was a 2016 Dwyer Award finalist for teaching excellence in Palm Beach County, an accolade for which she was nominated by her colleagues. Most recently, Jill has been selected to become an accredited, teacher trainer for Cambridge International Examinations, and she is currently contracted with Cambridge University Press to write the first-ever, General Paper course book.
A current resident of Delray Beach, Florida, Jill is mother to her two children–Willow and Phoenix–as well as a happy wife, daughter, sister, teacher, writer, change-agent, and dreamer.