Teaching Philosophy

        As a first grade teacher, my goal is to get children excited  about    learning from the very beginning of their school experience.  I want students to learn how to think, how to question, how to discover, and how to find answers to their questions.  Most of all, I want students in my class to learn how to be lifelong learners, and to confident about their learning .

  Education , Experience, Honors

      I have been a teacher for 35 years.  My first five years of teaching were in Kindergarten, and every year since has been in first grade.  For the past nine summers I have enjoyed teaching math to students who are entering third grade in Bristol, Virginia's Summer School program. As an adjunct professor for Virginia Intermont College, I teach language arts and reading classes for adults enrolled in night classes who are planning to become teachers.

I began my career at Stonewall Jackson Elementary in 1974-75.  Then in the fall of 1975, I was fortunate to be one of the "charter faculty" which opened Jospeh B. Van Pelt Elementary School. My undergraduate degree is from Carson-Newman College.  I earned my Master's Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Virginia.  I have been trained as a  Lead Teacher in Math by the Southwest Virginia Consortium. I currently am serving  on the executive board for the Southwest Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics.  I am a member of both Alpha Delta Kappa Honorary Sorority for Outstanding Women Educators and Delta Kappa Gamma Honor Society.  In 1992, I was humbled to be named the Rotary Club's Bristol, VA Teacher of the Year.

                                      Personal Information

    A  Bristol native, I enjoy traveling to see the sites of the USA, caring for my dog (1/2 chihuahua, 1/2 pomeranian),  playing in the handbell choirs of  both First Baptist Church and Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, and watching baseball (Favorite teams- Braves and Yankees).   Eating out with friends is a favorite pastime, and I just wouldn't be the same without my desserts and coffee!  I enjoy attending workshops to improve my teaching.  A  future goal of mine is to obtain a floor loom and develop my weaving skills.