Congratulations to NWPE member Angie Samson, a 4th grade teacher at The Village Charter School in Boise, ID.  NWPE Regional Director Brenda Miller recently awarded Ms. Samson with a $250 New Classroom Start-Up Grant to enhance her classroom.  Ms. Samson plans to build up her classroom library and leveled reading group materials as well as purchase math manipulatives, math games, and some inside recess/free time games with the grant funds.

Ms. Samson has been a teacher for five years.  She shares that she always wanted to teach because her grandma was a teacher.  She loved spending time working in her grandma’s classroom.  Her goal to become a teacher was delayed by an initial career as a non-profit fundraiser and time as a stay-at-home mom, however.  When her youngest went to pre-school, she took a job at the pre-school and went back to school to get her teaching certificate.  She finally followed in her beloved grandmother's footsteps and like her grandmother, she became a teacher when her youngest child went to school. 

Ms. Samson has had some surprises in her teaching career.  “Bulletin boards are my biggest surprise.  I used to daydream as a student about how I would create my bulletin boards when I became a teacher.  I can remember as early as 3rd grade critiquing my teacher's bulletin boards and thinking to myself how I would do them differently.  I thought I would love to decorate bulletin boards. They are my least favorite part of my career!” 

Ms. Samson’s greatest satisfaction is knowing when her students "get it."  “I love the look on their faces at that ‘ah ha’ moment when they realize they understand a concept they didn't understand before.  Piggybacking on that, I love it when I am explaining something and a student raises their hand and brings up how what I am teaching relates to something I have already taught them.  At that moment, I am proud because I know that what I am teaching these kids is getting inside and they are learning!” 

Raising the professionalism of educators is important to Ms. Samson.  She believes this is best done through “leading by example.”  She believes that people are more apt to listen if they know you have walked in their shoes.  “I am authentic with my students.  I share with them that I am going to school, too, and talk with them about my classes.  I want to instill the love of lifelong learning in my students and when they see that I am still learning, I believe it shows the importance of learning.  It shows that I take what I do seriously and with passion.”  She believes that sharing her personal stories about learning with her students is better than sharing in a school newsletter how she is advancing her education.  She believes that parents value the stories their children share with them more than just reading about their teacher.  “I guess it is walking the walk and talking the talk and being transparent about that with the kids.” 

Angie is a proud member of NWPE because she appreciates that NWPE is not a union and that NWPE dues are low.  “I do not care to get caught up in all the political hype that comes with a union.  In fact, I wrote an entire project in college against the NEA.” 

NWPE again congratulates Ms. Samson, not only on her New Classroom Start Up Grant, but also on her taking advantage of the nonunion teacher choice movement!

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