A Legacy of Teachers

I am an AACPS: AVID Teacher, Northeast High School | 2016 Teacher of the Year Nominee

Top row: Jennifer Riegger, Sarah DelSignore, Elizabeth Parker Bottom Row: Sara Titus, Deborah Jester

“A true leader in the school.”  “She taught beyond the curriculum, and instilled character values into her lessons.”  “Tough and challenging, but fair and caring.” My grandmother passed away at the beginning of the school year.  She spent over 40 years teaching in AACPS, retiring in the late 90’s from Pasadena Elementary School. These were the comments on her obituary page from former students.  What career can impact others that they can still remember that impact four decades later?

My grandmother wasn’t the only AACPS teacher in the family.  The women in my family have given over 100 year of teachings to AACPS.  My mom, aunt, and sister are all educators. Yet, this is exactly why, I didn’t want to go into teaching. Coming from a family of teachers, everyone expected me to follow their footsteps. So, I went to college majoring in mass communication.  Upon graduating, I took a job long term substituting and soon I was signing up to get my Masters in Teaching. I witnessed how making connections with students can impact learning the content and reaching goals. Like my grandmother did years ago, I want to teach beyond the curriculum and to be challenging and fair.  To be remembered as at least half the teacher my grandmother was would be an honor.