Wendy Shirey (NV '18) spent her first year in the classroom at a school with high poverty and high transiency—but “that little school in a tough neighborhood in Las Vegas became the place I learned to love teaching.”
Dual immersion teacher Chris Bessonette (WY ’18) tackles the achievement gap for language learners and low-income students by making vocabulary a cornerstone of his instruction: “Our knowledge of words determines our level of understanding.”
Krista Trent (OH ’18), a fourth-grade math teacher at Thornville Elementary, holds happy memories from her first year of teaching, thanks to a great mentor and energetic students: “I fell in love with education because I fell in love with the kids.”
Principal Anitra Pinchback-Jones (WA ’18) starts every day at Rainier View Elementary School with a schoolwide meeting, which “sets the stage for positivity at school, emotional safety and healthy relationships.”
Tasha Wilson (AR ’18) has a gift for classroom management. Her secret to keeping her second-graders in line: high expectations, structure, consistency and respect.
Silvia Miranda (NM ’18) fell in love with teaching during her first year, when her kindergarteners realized “that letters actually made sounds and words, and that these words meant something to them.”
Sarah Szymanski (CO ’18) was inspired to become an educator after watching her mother, a sixth-grade teacher, develop lasting relationships: “I realized that as a teacher you can effect change on a daily basis and become a lifelong figure in the lives of your students.”
Thoughtful words from a student can brighten any educator's day.
As a first-year teacher, Linda Dishman (KS ’12) wanted everything to be perfect in her classroom. She quickly realized that her students didn’t care about perfection: “They loved learning and being at school.”
Kindergarten teacher Shelly Gaughan (TN ’18) never thought about becoming an educator until she spent a week teaching ancient civilizations to sixth-graders as part of a high school career discovery program: “I found myself intrigued with the challenge of making this content relevant and exciting.”
