Sarah Totans

Tell us why you became a teacher

I became a teacher because I wanted to show children that they can love learning. I wanted to inspire children and show them that learning could be fun and it didn’t have to be torture like it was when I was learning. I wanted children to figure I don’t think they could push through hard things and see that hard things are no longer hard after they push through.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

Every year when I’m about to introduce the first vowel, I tell my students that their lives are about to change forever. I tell them that they are going from being just children who can identify letters to readers. Their eyes open so wide. I tell them that every word has a vowel and as soon as they learn the vowels, they will all of a sudden be the most amazing readers and the magic in their eyes is just incredible and it’s every single year that my heart just melts.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I honestly would probably put it into my retirement and maybe take a vacation. I might even use some of it to pay off some of my student loans because I still have a little over $30,000 in student loans. But I can assure you that we would definitely have a glow stick dance party in my classroom!