Teacher Profile

Mrs. Amy Vance

Career:

This is my eleventh year teaching at IMS. I have taught for 14 years total, including four years in Waverly at the high school level. The subjects I've taught include: 9^th grade English, journalism, photography, 11^th & 12^th grade Communications, 8^th grade literature, language arts, speech & debate, and fine arts.

I have sponsored the National Vocational-Technical Honor Society, OPTIONS, and the Waverly Central Blue Blaze, ROC, Watchdogs, tutoring students after school.

I have received extra training in AVID (or ROC), Wilson Reading Systems, and WRITE Traits. I spent two weeks at the Governor's Academy for Teachers of Writing at UT Knoxville, and have been published in the English Journal.

I am a member of the National Council for Teachers of English, the Tennessee Council for Teachers of English, the National Educational Association, the Tennessee Education Association, and the Paris Association of City Teachers. I received my professional teaching license in 1997 and am certified to teach English and social studies, grades 7-12.

Education:

I graduated from Morristown-Hamblen High School West in 1989 and attended Oglethorpe University in Atlanta for two years before transferring to Tennessee Technological University in 1991. I received my Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with a concentration in English and minors in history and psychology. I have a Master's in elementary guidance counseling in December 2005 and have completed my coursework for a specialist degree in secondary education. I am now working on my specialty research and hope to defend it to my graduate committee this summer.

Personal:

I have coached AYSO soccer, ages 6 and under, and volunteered at the Waverly Animal Shelter during the summers. I swam competitively for seven years, and coached in Morristown for five years while in college and high school. I collect teddy bears, love to read and go to the movies, and enjoy working out in my yard and growing flowers and houseplants. I love to bake (when I have the time and energy), and I make a killer carrot cake, Italian cream cake, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. John Mellencamp and the Dixie Chicks top my list of favorite musicians, although I'll listen to and enjoy just about everything.

My many other occupations have included being a lifeguard, a swim team coach, an ice cream scooper at Baskin Robbins, a bank teller, and in a movie theater.

I have brothers in Denver, Colorado, and in Chicago, Illinois. My parents still live in Morristown, TN, and the rest of my family is scattered primarily throughout Nebraska while a few live in Washington. I am thrilled to be godmother to my beautiful niece, Sarah, and my three nephews, Eli, Luke, and Charlie!

I love teaching, and believe there is no more noble profession than education. I make it my mission to teach my students the skills they need both in and out of the classroom.