Sheila Holt has stepped up from a year as a long-term sub to teach freshman geometry. Holt graduated from Texas A&M University Texarkana. This will be her first contracted year.

Q. What did you teach before?

A. This is my first official year to teach. I’ve never taught before. I was a long-term sub for Mrs. Pilgreen, and then I went to the middle school and I was a long term sub for a math and ELA teacher.

Q. How did you decide you wanted to teach?

A. Well, that’s a long story. It’s something I thought I always wanted to do, but it was put on the back burner, because life happens. I realized after speaking to a good friend of mine who was going to school, and she was like, “Oh, you can do it!” So in 2013 I went to college with four credits to my name and started my career. I also saw where I wanted to be in life in the next ten years, and that teaching was something I could really excel at and really bring something positive to people’s lives.

Q. Do you have any funny stories from your time teaching?

A. Oh goodness no, not yet, since I’ve only been teaching for a year. But I know that those are coming real soon.

Q. What are you looking forward to this year?

A. I’m looking forward to really building a relationship with these students and getting to know them, because they always learn better when they can relate to something. In teaching, my main thing is that if i can show them how it applies to the real world, then I can really show them the value of what they’re learning.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish this year?

A. I hope to get settled into the Tiger family, because this is my first year of teaching and also my first year at TISD. I want to get to really know my students and my colleagues and be able to grow, because as a life long learner I’m always going to have to be able to grow in some aspect of my life. I feel that I can grow hugely i through teaching and getting to know everybody.