Sydney Jensen, a Georgia native, is a ninth-grade English teacher at Lincoln High School. Located in the epicenter of America’s heartland: Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln is one of the nation’s top cities for refugee resettlement. Students at Lincoln High speak more than 30 languages. Jensen also serves as an instructional coach working with new and veteran teachers to provide instructional support and mentorship. In recognition of her work in the classroom and the school community, Jensen is the 2019 Nebraska Teacher of the Year.
She is a passionate advocate for increased mental and emotional wellness supports for both students and the teachers who serve them. She recorded an official TED talk on the impact of secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue on teachers who work with students experiencing trauma. Her talk received over 700,000 views in less than a week.
Jensen earned her BsED in English Education from the University of Georgia in 2013. She received her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Doane University in 2020.
During this interview, we spoke with Sydney about her recent TED talk, student content creation and digital citizenship.
If you want to connect with Sydney, you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram or visit her website. You can also view her TED talk here.
