Rachel Davis

     I have worked for the Princeton Independent School District for four years.  I worked at the elementary school for two years as a paraprofessional, at the intermediate school as a 6th grade Math teacher for one year, and I am currently at the  middle school as a 7th grade Science teacher and cheer coach.

     I graduated from Texas Women's University--Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor's of Science Degree.  I was inducted into the honor societies for Biology and Phi Theta Kappa.  I have been married for almost fourteen years and have a twelve year old daughter who is currently in the 7th grade.  I postponed my education until 1997 to stay home and raise my daughter Brittney.  After working for Princeton I. S. D. as a paraprofessional at the elementary school for two years (1996 to 1998), I was inspired to go to college and become a teacher.

     I believe all children are a blessing and that all children are entitled to a quality education.  I believe it is a teacher's responsibility to understand the process of  learning and to apply this understanding to ensure an atmosphere where all children can learn with a positive self-esteem.

     As a facilitator of learning, I want to model and encourage the appreciation of students' cultural inheritance, learning styles, needs, and interests.  I believe a teacher should provide instruction that will allow students  to work together in groups and utilize technology, which in turn will enhance learning.  To be an effective teacher, I believe a teacher must also reflect, affect, and touch the lives of  his/her students.  Along with reflecting and touching lives, a teacher must also maintain personal integrity, communicate well with parents, students, colleages, and within the community, be proficient in classroom management and have positive expectations.

     To me, being a teacher also embodies the opportunity to positively influence children's self-esteem and learning potential.  I am dedicated to the success of all students.  I sincerely believe that I have a natural instinct for nuturing, encouraging, and gently instilling confidence in young teens.  I feel that I can identify with each individual child's needs and serve as a catalyst in their educational growth process.  It is my goal to continue learning and to enhance my learning capabilities so that I will have the knowledge and tools to be a teacher that will instill and promote life-long learners.  As a teacher,  I will serve as a role model for my daughter, my students, and my peers.  As a teacher, I will model my belief that education is very important and should play a prominent role in everyone's life as it does in mine.