sherry hallam

I am retired after teaching for 36 years. I have taught K-8th grades, but spent the last 6 years teaching as a Title I teacher in first grade. Teaching children phonics, reading, spelling and writing has been my strength and I have always loved making instructional materials to reinforce these skills. I found out in 1983 that I was "right brained" and this helped me understand why I was so creative. I was a "right brained teacher" functioning in a "left brained profession."

My teaching style was a combination of techniques; it was my own style. I picked up ideas while attending many workshops as I grew as a teacher and took what worked best for me. Making learning fun for the class was important so I created many games and center activities for my classes. At the same time I believed in structure and repetition when teaching skills. When I taught in the classroom, I believed setting aside a large block of time in the morning for whole group instruction and then providing my class with seat work that reinforced the skills taught. During this time I met with small groups of kids and worked in reading groups; even when kids were expected to read from the same book. I found a way to teach groups on different levels using the same story. My first graders could read and spell almost any word at the end of the year. My classes always made great progress in reading and writing because of my style of teaching. When I returned to teaching in 1990 after my child had become 5 years old, teaching was beginning to change. I had strong ideas on how to teach language arts and had to "buck" the system many times. When my school system decided that "phonics" was out, I kept on teaching it and called it spelling. When all the teachers on my grade level started the day with family group, I had family group after lunch and reserved those precious morning hours for language arts. When different reading styles "came in and out", I kept teaching the same way; the way that worked for me. When all the teachers were sending their work home on Fridays; I continued to send each child’s graded work home every night so I could stay in daily communication with my parents. My principals allowed me to continue to teach in my style because my test scores were always so high.

First Union Outstanding Young Educator Award 1985 I was honored to have 5 student teachers placed in my room while teaching in the Miami school system during my first years of teaching.

I graduated from University of Tennessee in 1968 with a BS Degree in Education. I was certified to teach K-6 grades and Social Studies in the Middle School Grades 6-9. Reading Specialist was added to my NC Teaching Licenses in 2005 by NC Department of Education because of my high test scores, my performance in the classroom and my creative talents. I have taken numerous workshops and many extra college courses to keep my certificate up to date.

I was majoring in biology and it was suggested by one of my professors that I go to medical school. Instead I changed my major to education my junior year at college. I absolutely hated education courses and my grade point average dropped. I loved art, dancing, drama, nutrition, math, history, and biology so I felt that I had made a mistake in changing my major. Then I did my student teaching and I was the only student teacher from my group who received a 4.0 in Student Teaching. I found out that I was a born teacher that semester. Being in the classroom and teaching kids became my passion. The teaching came naturally.