Woman’s experience as kindergartner inspired her to be a teacher
By John Le
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HENDERSONVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — At Sugarloaf Elementary, first-year kindergarten teacher Tiffany Dorn seems like a natural. Maybe that’s because she spent the past 17 years working towards the chance to teach.
“Eyes up here. Let’s go over what Clever Cat says again, OK?” she said to her kindergartners.
Clever Cat and Dippy Duck are fun teaching tools that might just inspire students down the road.
“This is really the start where students start to love school,” she explained. “So that is why I love kindergarten.”
“I am so excited! This is where I grew up, this is my home roots — Henderson County,” Dorn told News 13.
Her memory book took us back 17 years, when Tiffany was a kindergartner in Audrey James’ class.
“That was Tiffany’s first day,” James said.
“She made school fun for me. She made me love kindergarten,” Dorn reflected.
“She has a heart for children, she always has,” James says.
“Ever since I was in kindergarten with Miss James, I knew that this is where I was meant to be. Kindergarten has always had a special place in my heart,” said Dorn.
Audrey is Tiffany’s aunt, and she’s also been a Henderson County teacher for 44 years.
“She was just a wonderful student, and she was the student that every teacher loves to have. She loved coming to school, I don’t know that you ever missed a day,” James said to her niece and protégé.
“I don’t think so!” Dorn replied.
Every day, James comes into her classroom for “SMILES” time, which is a phonics enrichment program.
Seeing her work, brings back a lot of memories for Dorn.
“She made every day fun for us,” she says. “We played games, we had songs for everything. She even incorporated stuffed animals with us. It was just a lot of fun. And that is a role model for me on how I want to be as a kindergarten teacher.”
Her memory book includes two pictures to show the progression from August of 2004 to May of 2005. Those early images help give us a picture of the girl who was motivated to teach.
“I’m extremely proud, and I really didn’t know until recently that this was how she ended up in education,” James said of Dorn. “She’s an awesome teacher, I’ve watched her and she is awesome, she was made to be a teacher.”
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