CA PRIDE - MARY LOU WILSON

If you want to become an excellent reader and writer, you should sign up for Mrs. Wilson's first grade language arts class! Mary Lou Wilson has taught first grade students reading, writing, and oral language skills for 25 years at CA. The result is students who have the best possible foundation for their future academic success.

Mrs. Wilson’s first association with CA was through enrolling her daughter in our Pre-K class. It did not take long for my predecessor, Dottie Seward, to discover that she had a parent volunteer who was not only an experienced teacher, but also a reading specialist. Mrs. Wilson was quickly added to the faculty. Her expertise as a reading specialist has served CA well over the years. She is regularly consulted by other teachers and me when a student in any grade has difficulty with reading. She also does the reading assessment for most of our new students coming in to CA.

Mrs. Wilson also teaches first grade math. When she took on this new challenge in 2008, she was excited to have the opportunity to participate in two days of workshops on Everyday Math. She came back ready to help first grade students build just as strong a foundation in math skills as in language arts.

You may not be aware that Mrs. Wilson has administrative responsibilities as well. She is the Language Arts Lead Teacher. In this role, she works with language arts teachers to ensure continuity in instruction through all of the grades. She is the primary mentor for our new elementary teachers. All in all, Mrs. Wilson is a leader among our faculty who is admired and respected by her peers. Along with steering committee co-chair, Leigh-Ann Hartley, she worked tirelessly to lead our faculty and trustees through a self study process to successfully earn our initial VAIS accreditation in 2005. She has played a major role in our subsequent re-accreditation in 2010 and preparation for our upcoming visit in 2015. She has served on one accreditation team for another school.

These extra responsibilities do not diminish her commitment to her students. First grade students always come first. She does not just teach by the "book", she is constantly finding ways to enrich the learning experience with special projects, fun events, and field trips. It is not enough to read about plants, but we should also plant them and watch them grow. It is not enough to count paper ice cream scoops, but perhaps we should eat some real ice cream scoops. It is not enough to read about an artist' painting technique, we should try to make our own masterpieces using that technique ourselves. Now that is what I call fostering a love of learning.