Tell us why you became a teacher

When I was a young teenager I was THE babysitter in town my calendar was booked always. Then came high school where they had an early child preschool where we did lesson plans and were able to "teach". I believe this was just the beginning of what has become my passion. Observing and developing individual plans and activities for children no matter their abilities has kept me a teacher for over 30 years.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I have an activity called the brown prisms (brown stairs). They are 10cm long and the children love to stack them to make a tall tower which of course I tell them they can't use a chair to stack them. The really determined ones I say you can come back when you're tall enough to reach the top. Fast forward 6 years. A student comes back to my class, sees the brown stairs struggle and says can I put the top one on? He was so thrilled the little 4 year old all cheered him.

What would you do with the $25,000?

As I come to the end of my career I would like to use this money to help set up a program where I could mentor new public education Montessori teachers create classrooms that carry on the Montessori philosophy.