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Jacalyn Warner
Teacher of the Month
By Jenn Director Knudsen
"Her reputation in the community is well established," says Alys Shorter, one of the school's assistant principals, who has been there for five years. "Her name comes up often as parents are discussing the type of teacher they want for their child."
Warner says though she hoped eventually to become a full-time teacher, a job came her way much faster than expected.
At first a substitute teacher to "get my foot in the door," Warner says a teaching friend had to commute a long distance to get to Diane Winborn Elementary School and wanted to call it quits – only seven weeks into the school year. Warner learned of the open position in her friend's first grade classroom, interviewed for it and was hired by the principal, the late Diane Winborn, for whom the school is named. "It's almost like it was meant to be," Warner says of the official start to her career, in October 1988, well into the school year. And she remains in that first grade classroom, with no plan to leave it any time soon.
Warner says today her students benefit from her teaching longevity; not only has she become a better instructor due to time and experience, but teachers' aids – such as technology and conferences – have gotten better over time, too. She says this combination makes her that much more effective – and patient – in the classroom. She says 16 years of having her patience tested by pint-sized students has resulted in near-endless stores of the stuff.