What is your name? Where do you teach? My name is Lori Cox and I teach at Magnolia Trace Elementary.

What subject(s) do you teach? I teach all subjects in second-grade.

What is your favorite thing about the subject(s) you teach? The favorite thing about teaching all subjects is you can pick a theme and follow that theme in all subject areas by doing various activities. The concepts are being reinforced all day long.

Lori Cox

How long have you been a teacher? I have been a teacher for 16 years.

How has the profession of teaching changed since you started? When I first started teaching it was teacher directed and now it is moving towards student directed learning. The students play a much more active role in learning today. There is more interaction between students in the classroom today.

Why did you become a teacher? I became a teacher because I enjoyed working with children. I used to volunteer in my son’s class when he was in school, and I realized how much I enjoyed working with the children. I went back to school to get certified in education.

What is your favorite thing about teaching? The favorite thing about teaching is watching the light appear in the student’s eyes when they fully understand something.

Do you do anything special in the classroom to get through to your students? I teach songs and rhymes to help them remember information. We dance sometimes to make patterns and learn rhythm.

Are you involved in any extra curricular activities at the school? There are not any extracurricular activities at this school.

Do you utilize any special technology in the classroom? I use computers and the Infocus in the class. With the Infocus, anything that comes on the computer screen can be projected on a screen in the class. I can look up information and share it with the entire class. We sometimes use it to play educational math and language games.

Have you received any grants to aid you in the classroom? No, I haven’t received any grants.

What do you do during your summer vacations? I have tutored students, taught summer school and try to meet with friends who I don’t have time to see during the school year. Many of my friends live out of town.

Do you aspire to become a principal one day? Maybe one day, but I do enjoy the day to day interaction of being in the classroom. The children always have some story or funny happening to share with you.

What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened while you were teaching? I was doing an art project in the class. We were using brown and green paints. The class was washing off their brushes in the sink. All of a sudden the teacher next door came in my room and said he had some strange colored water backing up in his sink. He thought it was coming from the restroom.

I told him it must be coming from my sink because mine was starting to hold water also. He was very relieved to learn that it was only clean paint water and not backup from the sewer.