For Anita Blount, a first grade teacher at Crosswind Elementary School in Collierville, teaching has always been in her blood.
She comes from a long line of educators, with her two older sisters and aunts and uncles in the education field. And to her, following their footsteps only seemed natural. “They enjoyed it so much,” she says. “And I really enjoyed working with kids, so I just kind of followed behind what they were doing.”
Blount got her education degree from Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, moving on to teach in the Jackson-Madison County school system. After a few years, she moved to Memphis, earning her masters degree at then-Memphis State University and landing a job at Collierville Elementary. After a few years there, she moved over to Crosswind Elementary School, where she still teaches today.
“I was at Collierville Elementary from 1989 until they built Crosswind Elementary in 1993,” she says. “At that time, there were so many people moving to Collierville, some of the teachers from Collierville Elementary had to move to Crosswind. I’ve been here ever since.”
In that time, Blount has taught multiple generations.
“One of my students in my class now, I taught her dad,” she says, adding, “I’m excited when my former students want me to be their kid’s teacher.”
Blount says that, although she loves when her students’ parents like her, there’s more to it than that. “I hope that the parents like me, as a bonus, but I just enjoy engaging the kids and getting them excited about learning,” she says. “That’s what I like to do.”
Through the years, she has gotten her teaching style down to a science, focusing on each of her students’ individual needs. “Something I’ve learned from teaching is to make sure to use different strategies and have different teaching styles,” she says. “You have to have different teaching styles if you’re going to be an effective teacher, and you have to address those needs according to the students.”
She tracks each students’ individual progress using a fluency book. Then, for a one-hour block each day, she separates her students into groups depending on ability level. Some groups will work on reading chapter books, while others may be doing more hands-on activities to learn phonics.
Blount says this also gives her students a chance to get to know each other and form friendships. “They can’t sit at a desk all day and listen to a lecture,” she says. “We really want them to listen to us, but they need to express themselves and talk to each other. That’s how they form relationships with each other.”
Blount’s students, even years down the line, truly appreciate her level of care. One of her former students, Braden Sutton, presented her with a plaque honoring her as the person who’s made the biggest impact on his life.
“He was going to present it to me at his sports banquet, but I wasn’t able to make it because I had to go out of town for my class reunion,” she says. “So, instead, he came up to my classroom one day and presented me with the award.”
Blount credits another outstanding teacher for her success. “When I was student teaching, I had an outstanding supervisor named Sylvia Giles,” she says. “When you have a wonderful supervising teacher, it makes a big difference. Everything she taught me, I brought it here to Collierville.”
She also credits two former principals as being instrumental to her success: Kim Lampkins and Mary Ann McNeil. “They always gave me wonderful advice, and they were great leaders,” she says.
Now in her 37th year of teaching, Blount plans to retire by her 40th anniversary. When that time comes, she plans to travel, relax, and do some volunteering.
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