Denise Wooden

Tell us why you became a teacher

I had the best teachers, from PreK to 12th Grade. But, the one teacher who made me want to teach just like her was my Mama. She was unable to graduate from high school because both her parents had died, and she sacrificed to raise her 3 younger siblings - two of which went on to graduate from college. I appreciated her knowledge and wisdom so much that I wanted to do for others what she had done for me -- she provided me the BEST education.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most memorable teaching experience was during the 2016-2017 school year. My school had a hard time helping our juniors & seniors earn qualifying scores on the AP Language exam. I was able to get admin to recruit 9th & 10th grade students -- starting them early with AP. After teacher trainings, and many Saturday tutorials for students, my students earned the first qualifying scores on the AP Lang exam in its history! It was incredible. We continued increasing our gains each year!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would pay some bills, buy a class set of laptops for my students to use, and increase my personal rainy day fund (which would be used in part to buy students food to eat).