about dr. pannell
Dr. Jessica Pannell has been teaching, tutoring, mentoring, and writing assessments in the English Language Arts field for over 20 years.
Dr. Pannell began by providing therapy to young children at an autism school. She then spent six years teaching composition and literature to undergraduate students and tutoring students in the writing center while earning a PhD in Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. After graduating, Dr. Pannell spent the next 13 years at ACT developing content for English and writing assessments (Quality Core, Aspire, Workkeys, and the ACT test); developing curriculum, test constructs, and writing rubrics; and training scorers of writing tests at ACT. Through all this time, Dr. Pannell also provided one-on-one tutoring in math, ELA subjects, and exam preparation to students ranging from grades 5 through high school.
In the spring of 2025, Dr. Pannell left her 9-5 office life behind in favor of a career that allows her to shape the lives of students more directly and personally on a full-time basis.
She is as passionate about learning from her students as she is about teaching them, and considers it a great honor to accompany students on their extraordinary educational journeys.
Dr. Pannell lives in Iowa with her husband, children, and dedicated canine and feline coworkers. She is a serial hobbyist, breast cancer survivor, and private poet.
THE STORY OF MINSER MENTORSHIP
My tutoring practice, Minser Mentorship, is named after my parents, Mrs. Shirley and Dr. William Minser. My parents were my first teachers. Mom was an elementary reading specialist who read to her children every chance she could get, and encouraged our every attempt at writing, even when it was gibberish. Dad was a minister who wrote and delivered a sermon every week that included insightful readings of biblical texts. Both Mom and Dad were the first people in their families to graduate from college.
When I started to write essays for school, we didn’t have a computer at home, and I couldn’t type well enough to transcribe my handwriting. So I visited Dad’s office after school, where I read my essays aloud to him and he typed them. But Dad didn’t merely transcribe each sentence; he used the exercise to mentor me in the art of writing. He’d be humming along, fingers flying, and then I’d read a sentence that made him pause, fingers hovering over the keyboard. “What are you trying to say?” he’d ask. Then I’d explain and he’d reply, “then say THAT!” Once in a while he’d have a suggestion, but for the most part he expected me to do the work of clarifying my own writing.
The way my parents taught and mentored me is at the core of my approach to teaching in all of its varied iterations and contexts. Each student is on their own educational path with their own experiences, resources, and priorities. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to understand their relationship with both the material they are trying to master and their goals for doing so.
Because I understand that learning takes place when we are excited and curious, I tap into students’ own interests and passions so that their work feels meaningful and motivating.
I guide students in finding their own “Zone of Proximal Development,” where they have contact with both what they can already do and what they want to be able to do next. Staying in this zone gives students confidence as they gain competencies.
Students are in charge of their own learning; they are the ones climbing to the peak, while I accompany them as a trusted guide who knows the way.