My name is Misty Skidmore and this is my 12th year of teaching. I grew up in West Lafayette, IN and graduated from Purdue University. After college, I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and received my Masters in Secondary Education from Xavier University. I began my teaching career in Amelia, Ohio and taught 7th grade language arts for three years. Several friends of mine were teaching overseas and convinced me to attend the UNI overseas recruiting conference in Waterloo, Iowa. That weekend changed my resume and view of teaching for the next several years. I boarded a plane bound for Santa Cruz Cooperative School in Bolivia in August of 2007. My expertise grew teaching high school English, middle school Humanities and coaching JV and Varsity girls volleyball and basketball. After three years in South America, I knew I was not done with my overseas stint so decided to interview with Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, South Korea. I taught 7th grade Humanities for three years at SFS. I was involved with the athletic program by coaching JV girls volleyball and basketball. I loved my Korean adventure by getting my fill of kimchi and trying my hand at Taekwondo. After quite a bit of debate and advice from family and friends, I decided to move back to the States in the summer of 2013 and continue teaching back on the same continent where my career first started. I taught 2 years at a private Christian school called Lancaster Christian Academy in Smyrna, TN and loved my role as the middle and high school Literature teacher and Varsity volleyball and softball coach.
Currently, I am teaching 7th grade MYP English and Humanities at Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana and will be coaching middle school volleyball. This is my first time in Africa and I am learning more about the culture and the country.
My personal philosophy for education: I believe that the longer I teach, the more I need to learn. I am continually learning from my colleagues, from my administrators, learning about technology and 21st century applications; but mostly, I am learning how to be a quality teacher. My goal is to instill a passion for lifetime discovery into my students. Some students are inquisitive by nature while others need to be guided how to question, how to wonder and how to think about things outside of their current world. One way I instill this passion is by being a model learner for my students. For instance, in my classroom, you will hear me thinking aloud, interacting with the text during reading, and demonstrating inquiry by asking questions or even searching for answers alongside my students in the classroom.
I believe that every child can reach their learning potential, with high expectations, the necessary support and opportunities, and a caring classroom. I strive to develop a state of trust and a sense of community in my classroom. I want the students to know that the classroom is a vehicle for creative thinking, but also a safe theatre for sharing concerns, doubts, fears and even middle school drama.
I know that I have improved as a teacher over the past decade, but I am far from being the teacher that I want to be.
Strangely enough, middle school is the age that I love to teach. Yes, those awkward years when the boys and girls are finding out who they are amidst peer pressure, trying to "fit in" and dealing with hormones in their body. Middle school is my passion because when I was in the awkward 'tween' years, not only did I have to deal with all the above mentioned, but I had a crisis in my family at the same time. Those years were some of the most difficult for me and I can name two people that were influential in helping me learn about my studies, deal with loss and figure out who I wanted to be...both of those people were teachers. I simply want to pay it forward!