Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

What inspires me to teach each day, for the last 21 years, is knowing that I am able to make the allurement of learning one that leaves a lasting impact, making the content applicable and meaningful for all of my students. My desire as a teacher is to transform the world of education by teaching the whole child, being a facilitator of their academic performance, but also to their overall development so they are prepared for their future. I try to inspire a love for learning in my students by modeling my own love for learning: I read with them, I write essays along with them, and I, too, act out parts in a play that we are reading. I do not ask more of my students than I, myself, am not willing to do. As a way to bridge the content we study to the real world is reflected through my traveling, becoming a global learner along with my students. The greatest learning experience takes place when you are able to see the world. Books are beautiful and enlightening, but the world is breathtaking and engaging and will teach you more than you ever expected to learn. When my students are able to find the connection of our travels to a text we have studied, then my classroom has just extended into the world and ventured into a community that is waiting to interact with them and teach them. Teaching gives me the opportunity to see the results of my students’ growth that is not only measured in the standards of a State test, but in their ability to mimic life skills I’ve inadvertently taught them, as seen through my class motto -- “Be blessed. Be safe. Be wise. Make good decisions” -- and share that act of kindness with their peers. When you love what you do and do what you love, you will never work another day in your life. Why? Because you live your passion and your joy each day. This is a special type of love that still puts butterflies in my stomach and makes my heart flutter each year in July, as the signs begin to appear in stores advertising for “The First Day of School”.