1. What is your teaching background (grade levels, content, years of experience, etc)?  I have taught ELA and Social Studies for the last 11 years in grades 3-5. I am about to relocate to a different school within our district and will be teaching 5th grade ELA/SS.

2. What accomplishments in education are you proud of? I am proud of all the students lives I've affected during my time. I am also proud of getting my masters degree along with being a district evaluator for 2nd year teachers. 

3. What are your passions in and out of school? My passions in school are getting my students to feel confident in their own abilities. Out of school my passions are my family and staying healthy. 

Hi! I am Cara Mathis. I grew up in Greenville and moved back here after school. I have just changed schools after 16 years at a brick and mortar charter school in Greenville. Next fall, I will be teaching at a virtual charter school with students from around the state. I am excited for this new challenge and to have a bit more flexibility in my schedule.

I love teaching high schoolers and especially enjoy project based learning and creating self- paced units to allow my students to have the time they need to really understand and master our standards. I have taught all levels of high school English and American Lit is my favorite.

Outside of school, I enjoy traveling and hanging out with my partner, Ben, and our two silver labs, Stanley and Hank.  We are heading to England this summer but the dogs are staying home! I am trying hard to get back into running and I destress by needlepointing.

I am excited for this opportunity to learn together and look forward to meeting everyone!

Hi! My name is Kylee Monroe.  I am starting my 20th year in education.  I taught middle school ELA for 15 years, was a Regional Coach for 1 year, the Director of Special Education for 2 years, and I am currently a 5th grade ELA/SS teacher.  In my time outside of teaching, I am a mom of 5, a tea farmer, an apiarist, and quilter. 

4th/5th Grade Teacher- Math and ELA

I currently teach in Tega Cay, SC.

This upcoming year will be my 14th year of teaching.

I am proud of the connections I made with students and colleagues, and the fact that I keep in touch with several of my former students.

I have taught in a variety of schools or worked with children with varying needs from special education to gifted.I believe every child needs to feel welcome and have their needs met in school. I embrace my position as role model and game-changer in their lives. 

Outside of school, I like to go for a run, read a good book, or take a nice road trip that usually involves catching a baseball game.

My name is Taylor McCall and I just finished my fourth year teaching first grade in Anderson School District 4. I graduated from Clemson University with a degree in Early Childhood Education and recently graduated from USC with a Masters of Education in Language and Literacy. I love teaching writing and I really love foundational skills and breaking down the phonological and phonemic aspect of literacy with young readers and writers. I have really taken an interest in the science of reading and use it frequently within the classroom. At my school, we the use Orton-Gillingham approach for teaching phonics and so it flows with what we are already doing. Outside of teaching, I love to be on the farm and be outside with my family. I also enjoy attending Clemson football games every fall! Go tigers! I look forward to learning with you all this summer!

Teaching Background: I taught 3-4 grade for 2 years, K-12 SPED resource for a year, and 2 years in 2nd grade. I am currently teaching 2nd grade at Townville Elementary School. 

Accomplishments: I am proud of my students’ growth in reading fluency this year. One of my students went from reading around 60 WPM to 120 WPM by the end of the year. 

Passions: Outside of school, I enjoy reading, calligraphy. Inside school I am passionate about instilling a love for reading in my students. 

My name is Michelle Woodyard, and I have been teaching for 21 years. Within these years, I have taught all subjects from 2nd grade to 5th, gifted and talented, and 3rd and 4th grade advanced ELA. I have also taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA, including virtual school and full-time intervention. To say that I have enjoyed many different grade levels and instruction would be an understatement! I am passionate about reading and writing and am proud to be called a Book Nerd! I am most proud of earning my National Boards and can honestly say that the journey helped me grow as a teacher and a professional. When I am not at school, I enjoy reading, creating my own bullet journals, spending time with my family, anything DIY, and watching baseball.

I am very excited to be a part of a community of professionals this summer that share the same passion for reading and writing!

 Hello all!! 

I’m Kim Sutherland and I just completed my 25th year! With the exception of 2 years teaching 4th grade, 23 years have been in middle school teaching mostly 6th grade, 7th, and 8th grade ELA. I spent 24 years in Spartanburg District 2, but then I decided to venture out to Spartanburg District 3 and it was a great decision for a new environment.  

 As an educator, I’m most proud of the 25 years experience I have in mostly one school district. I have grown as a teacher and earned my masters plus 30 from Converse College.  I still love to learn new practices and strategies that I can bring back to my students.  I’ve never been the teacher that does the same old thing year after year, so this makes me proud that I still want to learn and keep up with how current students learn best. 

Also, my passions are very much academic related and center around my students each year.  I love to build strong relationships with my students. 

I am the STEAM teacher at Rosenwald Elementary School and implementing the Project Lead the Way Program. I am a certified PLTW Launch Classroom Teacher and am PLTW Gateway Robotics and Automation.

I received my Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management with a Major in Educational Leadership in July 2022. I was also awarded Most Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Instabright International Guild of Researchers & Educators and Most Outstanding Educator in Science 2021 by the Luminary Excellence in Education and Researcher Awards. I have published my research about the use of innovative instructional material in science that I developed for those who don't have access to technology and that was implemented and adapted in my school district in the Philippines. This innovative instructional material also won first place during the Schools Division Competition in Science.

 In my most recent position as an elementary teacher for Darlington County School District, I developed and taught 4th-grade curricula. For a year, I taught 4th grade and was awarded for exponentially increasing my students' South Carolina Ready Test Scores in ELA, Mathematics, and Science. Before coming here as an international teacher, I was a teacher for 7 years, teaching 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. I coached winning students in the field of Radio Script Writing and Broadcasting, who won 2nd place in the Schools Division Level. I also coach winning students in different subject areas, such as poster-making contests, feature writing, and editorial cartooning. 

I started my career at Johnakin Middle School in Marion, SC where I taught 8th grade ELA.  After two years there, I realized middle school was not for me!

Lamar high school became my home for the next 5 years until the "Great B budget Cuts of 2009."  While there, I taught English 1-5.  I, also, became involved with a lot of extra curricular activities, earned my Masters, and joined Swamp Fox Writing Project in many capacities.

2009 was a big year. Budget cuts forced me to work at Hartsville High School, where I taught English II, and I got married.  When that year was up, I was able to move back to Lamar High School where I taught English 1-5 and Drama.

In 2017, I took a year off after having twins, Kate and Nate.  During that year, Caden was also born.  In 2018, I joined Lake City High School, where I currently have found a home.  

At LCHS, I have taught English I-4, ACT/SAT Prep, Drama, and Creative Writing.  Even after Covid, I continue to teach the virtual classes along with my F2F teaching load.

Reading is my passion, but I do love writing, cooking, and chasing after my children.

Hello, my name is Lisa Goff. I am currently moving my oldest daughter into her first big girl apartment in Durham, NC. A brief bio is about all I can handle right now so here we go. I love teaching; I began it as a second career 12 years ago, after I stayed home with my own children for 12 years. I am no spring chicken. I have an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Kentucky and received my education certification through Lander University. I am certified in Special Education and Early Childhood Education. I recently completed my Master in Education at Lander University with a concentration in Montessori. I am an AMS certified Lower Elementary Montessori teacher. I worked for 8 years as a 2nd grade teacher and I have just completed my 4th year as a Lower Elementary Montessori teacher.

I am proud of my involvement with the literacy curriculum for 2nd grade. I was able to work with my peers to create a curriculum map for the school year. I began my writing teacher journey when I was selected to attend a writing workshop at the Teachers College, Columbia College. It is one of my favorite experiences as an educator.

My passion outside of work is learning - anything and everything that interests me. I love to read anything, collect old books, and go to museums. I am learning to paint and draw; I love a good elementary school art project. Finally, I am working on getting all of my children through college and into adulthood.