Dusty Dickey

Tell us why you became a teacher

I did some part-time substitute teachingat the elementary school. One of the teachers encouraged me to go back to get my certification to teach. I did not have confidence to pass some of the courses, but I was surrounded by people who believed I could achieve those goals. Now as I look back, I see myself as a teacher/guide/motivator. I wanted to provide positive learning experiences that gave students opportunities to understand and see how things work in the real world & hands on activities!

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I would say my memorable teaching experience is when I see parents or grandparents at a grocery store and they tell me about a lesson that they’ve heard about from my students. For example, we made three sister soup when we were studying about Native Americans and they were telling me how they enjoyed making it or how their child wanted to make it at home. When we did those activities like that, always sent home the recipe or instructions of how to make something we may have done at school!

What would you do with the $25,000?

Purchase a Weather station so we can give weather forecasts and reports. Create a classroom with cutting edge technology such as 3-D printers robotic kits in advance them software. Another idea is modernized lab of recruitment with digital microscopes. Mobile science lab stem on Wheels car that can be shared across multiple classrooms containing snap circuit, 3-D pens and other resources. create a greenhouse/garden we can grow vegetables and other plants for our school/community!