Sabrina Hooper
I am an AACPS: First Grade Teacher, Glendale Elementary | 22-23 Rising Star
We are excited to spotlight Sabrina Hooper. Sabrina Hooper is a 22-23 Rising Star Teacher.
Ms. Hooper was nominated by the school’s principal, Lauren Wickline. The Glendale Elementary School First Grade teacher is a Towson Univeristy alum.
We had an opportunity to talk with Sabrina about being recognized as a Rising Star Teacher.
Here are a few highlights of the conversation:
Describe who you are in 5 words or less.
My five words would be reflective, flexible, determined, patient, and loving.
What was your motivation to go into education?
I studied Marine Science at the University of South Carolina for my undergraduate degree and I fell in love with just the outreach component of it. I had an opportunity to do an internship where I was a naturalist on a whale watching boat, and I got to see children’s passion and action, and I wanted to be a part of that.
What would you tell yourself about your potential as an educator?
I teach everyone to learn every day, but we also get to learn every day, and that’s something I really loved throughout my entire life. I feel like I have an interest in one day doing something with curriculum writing.
What one thing do you love about working in your school?
What is your favorite memory of your family and friends supporting you on your journey as an educator?
My whole family couldn’t go out or do anything for my birthday during COVID, so we decided to have a paint night in my parents house and they helped paint quotes and positive sayings to put around my entire classroom. I still have them up all over the place and every time I look at my classroom, I think, ohh, my brother did that or my sister did that and it makes me feel supported.
Thinking about the future of education, what are you most excited about for schools?
I know there are going to be a lot of changes in reading and our reading pathways. I appreciate that the county is is trying to learn about the best way to teach reading.
What is one hidden talent you have that no one, or few people, knows about and would surprise them?
I take a ceramics class. We make bowls, plates, mugs, and all different types of things.
If you had to make a time capsule about this year as rising star teacher and you had to include an item, an image, a quote and a song/melody, what would you include?
The item is our classroom talking piece. The picture would be of my mom when she game to my classroom before winter break and talked to my students about holidays. We talked about a lot of different holidays that are celebrated around the world and the winter. My song is called Good Morning by Alex Seonho. It’s all about how when you wake up in the morning, it’s a new day and to leave everything that happened in the past stays in the past. The quote “if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
What is one reason why someone should choose to become a teacher?
Helping kids grow is worth it. They remind you of the good in the world. You know every single day there is an opportunity for something great to happen.
Louis Nesbitt, PDM Department
The journey of an educator is a lifetime. We are thankful to those who have chosen to embark on this path. As a community, one of our greatest capacities is availability, so when the opportunities arise, find your own way to support education.
