Meet Ms. Hill

Educational Philosophy

I believe:

  • all students can be successful learners given the support to meet their needs.
  • learning experiences should spark curiosity in young students and create a desire to learn.
  • students should feel safe and comfortable in all learning environments.
  • kids should be kids after a day at school with plenty of play time.
  • students learn at different pacing and with different methods.
  • we should set the best example for our students as life-long learners.

By today's standards, I would have been labeled a "wild child." I am the product of parents who allowed their children to climb trees, build huts with scavenged materials, and roam the countryside with a gang of similarly wild children for hours on end.

We got dirty. We employed the five second rule. We pulled radishes from the garden, brushed off the dirt, and ate them on the spot. We encountered rattlesnakes and coyotes and occasionally kept a horned toad in our pockets. I have very few memories of my childhood spent indoors.

Summers were filled with gardens, fresh vegetables, shelling peas, picking beans and tomatoes, and gathering wild plums. My mother canned and put up bags and bags of frozen vegetables to preserve the summer's bounty. My dad grew the most amazing zinnias.

Yes, I grew up as a wild child and lived to tell the story!

I was born and raised in the Texas panhandle, lived my adult life in Austin, Texas and was eventually transplanted in South Carolina.

So what should you know about the adult me? I am a serial do-it-yourself-er inside the house and in the garden. I love tools…good tools...preferably those that require a large battery or electrical outlet. Nothing pink.

I love growing things...particularly flowers that bring both beauty and wildlife to my garden and, of course, the minds of children. I appreciate good literature, movies, music, theater, coffee, and food.

I earned a Bachelors of Science in Education and a Masters in Educational Instructional Design from The University of Texas at Austin. I have a diploma in landscape design. My professional work experience includes teaching children that science is cool, writing and editing educational materials, designing landscapes and gardens, and owning and operating a butterfly farm and nature center.

The 2020-21 school year will be my fifteenth year in public education having taught the last four at Slater-Marietta Elementary. My teaching experiences are in Special Education, Fifth grade, Fourth grade, Science Lab, and Gifted Education. I look forward to "taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy" with the new GCS Virtual Program 4th graders!