Young Lindsey Vance comes home from school on a breezy Spring day, and the first thing she grabs for in her book bag is a shiny, huge book she checked out from her school library that morning.
Years later, now an Honors English 10 teacher, Vance has empowered students with her aspect of teaching and her involvement in the school throughout the past eight years.
Vance started her path to becoming a teacher at a young age. “I started my career in educational research, specifically early childhood literacy studies, and I enjoyed that work tremendously. I was able to travel around the country and provide professional and development training to teachers implementing an early childhood literacy curriculum in their schools for the first time,” Vance said.
Vance learned a valuable lesson from her time working in educational research. “One of my main takeaways from that experience was that universally the teacher plays the most important role in ensuring that kids have a quality experience,” Vance said.
Following her work with early childhood literacy studies, Vance decided to work for a nonprofit as an assistant director. “I developed resources for schools to implement during out of school time. I had the opportunity to not only train the teachers on how to implement the program, but also to visit the schools and monitor its implementation,” Vance said.
Vance said that she recognized the deep care she felt for other people ever since she was a child. “I loved to learn more about people’s lives and their experiences and their feelings and I just really developed this like strong sense of empathy as a result of being a prolific reader and a good listener,” Vance said.
Vance also makes sure that she adapts her teaching style to the ever changing society. “Students’ needs change with time, and as we continue to change as a society, as a community, the ways in which we are able to connect with students, ensuring that they are prepared for the future, has also changed. I feel really fortunate and grateful to be a part of that shift in our culture,” Vance said.
Vance has joyful experiences with teaching but her favorite part about teaching is instilling confidence in her sophomore students. “When provided with good instruction and opportunities to practice meaningful feedback, students realize their full potential. They realize their own capability, what they’re capable of doing, and as a result they set their goals higher,” Vance said.
Junior Natalie Asvestopoulou said Vance’s style of teaching is admirable. “She teaches students in a way where they can understand almost in a sense that she knows each person’s weaknesses and addresses them as a whole. When working one on one she is certainly able to help a lot more but I loved how she cared more about us and understanding what we were being taught than just a grade or a due date,” Asvestopoulou said.
Teacher Sidney Wollmuth, who is co-workers with Vance, said that Vance positively adds to the school environment. “She cares so much about people and the world, and making it a better place,” Wollmuth said.
