2022-23 December Sky Zone Teacher of the Month

Teacher of the Month

Myrtle Beach | February 21, 2023

Enjoy meeting Angela.

How long have you been a teacher?

I have been a teacher for 18 years. I taught from 1997 to 2004, and then again from 2011 until now. From 2004 to 2011, I was a stay-at-home mom to our three smaller children.

All of my teaching years have been spent at schools along the Grand Strand. I started my career in 1997 as a 6th grade teacher at Carolina Forest Middle School, which was the original middle school in the Carolina Forest area. During my time at Carolina Forest Middle, I taught ELA, math, and social studies.

When my youngest child was able to enter school full time, I returned to teaching. By that time, Carolina Forest Middle had been split to form two new schools – Black Water Middle School and Ocean Bay Middle School, so I was hired at Ocean Bay Middle as a 7th grade ELA teacher.

In 2017, I was one of the teachers from Ocean Bay Middle that was moved to open the new Ten Oaks Middle School. Our school was opened with some of the students and teachers from Ocean Bay Middle.

How long have you been at your current school and what grade do you teach?

I have been a 7th grade ELA teacher at Ten Oaks Middle School since it opened. We are in our 6th year.

What led you into teaching and what continues to motivate you?

From a young age, I sort of always knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but I had to overcome a lot of personal obstacles to get there. As a middle and high school student, I was really timid in class, and lacked confidence in myself.

Even though I had a natural ability in ELA, I often struggled with some of the higher-level ELA standards. I had wonderful teachers, and there was nothing wrong with the way they were teaching, but the method used to present the information, for some reason, just did not work for me.

However, I am a very determined person, so I figured out my own way to understand the areas that had caused me so much trouble. I feel that when you have personally struggled in a certain area, you have a better understanding of where students may also struggle; therefore, I wanted to become a teacher to help students figure out the concepts that they did not understand. This desire to help students motivated me to overcome my timidness and lack of self-confidence, to become a teacher.

My passion to help students, and the absolute joy I feel when a student who has been struggling says, “Oh, I get it now!” is truly what motivates me to continue to teach.

What was your reaction to winning the award?

I was completely shocked, flattered, humbled, and self-conscious all at the same time! I am not one for the spotlight, and I am really not comfortable with having attention focused on me, unless, of course, it is by my students when I am teaching – HAHA! I know that my name was randomly drawn, but the fact that one of my students thought I deserved the award, means the world to me. In all my years of teaching, I have never been acknowledged in this type of way.

What was the reaction of your class?

My class really didn’t know what to think. When everyone came in, my students were working on a project, and some students were getting ready to take an assessment they had missed, so they were all focused on their tasks. After everyone left, and they saw what I had received, they were happy for me.

Have you been to Sky Zone before? If so, what was your experience like?

My son had his birthday party at (Sky Zone) a couple of years ago, and one of my daughters used to work at (Sky Zone). Our whole family thinks the park has a lot of great activities and is super fun!

What do you find most rewarding about being a teacher?

I really have two answers for this question. One answer relates to current students, and one relates to former students. With current students, the aspect of teaching that is most rewarding is helping a student accomplish something that they did not think they could accomplish. With former students, the aspect of teaching that is most rewarding is when a student comes back to ask for advice or assistance, or to express an appreciation for something I have taught them. With both types of students, I know I have made a difference in his or her life, either for a moment or for a lifetime, and to me, that is what being a teacher is all about.

Outside of the classroom, what are some of your interests?

When I have time to, I love binging shows on a variety of streaming channels and watching movies, especially documentaries or historical dramas. I also enjoy playing all of the New York Times online games and doing jigsaw puzzles. But what I love most of all, is spending time with my husband, who is also a teacher and a coach at Ten Oaks Middle School, our four children, and our three grandchildren

What’s the most adventurous thing you have ever done?

Actually, I am pretty boring. Probably the only exciting and/or interesting thing I have ever done was travel to the former Soviet Union in the summer of 1989 as a member of the People to People Student Ambassador Program. We were there during one of Gorbachev’s reforms known as Glasnost which allowed people more freedom of speech, and as a result, the Baltic Republics that we visited had started independence movements. This was a significant time period since it was right at the beginning of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. We were there for three weeks and traveled to several cities promoting good will between our two nations. The People to People Student Ambassador Program was founded in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and up until 2002, was a non-profit organization.