Educator of the Week: Stephanie Wilson

It’s time to recognize this week’s Educator of the Week, brought to you by the Tennessee Education Lottery.

Stephanie Wilson first started her career as a social worker and after some time, she realized it wasn’t for her and became a teacher.

“I couldn’t put kids into bad situations and sometimes with social work you have to do that,” Wilson said. “I knew I wanted to work with children so I switched it over to education.”

Wilson is now teaching Pre-K at Bargerton Elementary School and enjoys the fun things to help her class learn.

“I love everything about Pre-K,” said Wilson. “We do letters and numbers and reading and math, but it’s a lot of fun and a lot of play. They learn through playing.”

Wilson loves being able to see her students learning and sharing the material they’ve learned.

“They’ll be talking to each other and say something, you know, they didn’t know before or they get so excited when they learn something new, and they get to go home and tell someone and they’ll say, ‘Oh, they’ll be so proud of me.'”

Wilson says she likes to teach more than just academics in her class. She likes her students to be prepared in school with manners and kindness.

“Every single day. That’s something that’s big in here. We talk about being kind and you get rewarded when you’re kind. They’ve already started picking it up and they’ll say ‘So-and-so is being kind.'”

Wilson says her favorite thing about teaching is seeing how you can make a difference in student’s lives every day and better prepare them for the future.

“You get to make a difference. I mean you see a difference every day. It may be a little some days, but every single day you see a difference that you’ve made.”

Wilson is now eligible for the Tennessee Education Lottery Educator of the Month award.

To vote for her or any other nominees, go to the Tennessee Education Lottery website.

To nominate an educator for our weekly award, just email us at educator@wbbjtv.com.