Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993                   TAG: 9308190344
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: E-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JONATHAN HUNLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NOTED TEACHER IN VALLEY WINS WORLD'S NOTICE

Moore, who was voted Teacher of the Year in Roanoke for two consecutive years has been invited to attend the First United States/Russia Joint Conference on Mathematics Education in Moscow Oct. 1 through 7. The conference will give the educators from different countries a chance to meet and discuss methods of teaching and student assessment.

The faculties of several universities will conduct the conference along with People to People International. In addition to participants recommended by organizers, some were selected from lists of people expressing an interest in mathematics in Russia and from a random list from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. As of early August, about 100 educators were planning to attend the conference that will involve small-group discussions and presentations of papers.

"People who come are going to be actively involved in dialogue. They will be sharing ideas for improving the teaching and learning of mathematics," said Frances Curcio, co-chairman of the conference for the United State. She has been personally trying to organize the conference since 1988.

Although Moore is not sure if she is going to attend the conference, she ranks it as one of her biggest honors.

"This selection is right up there with being selected Teacher of the Year for Roanoke and being a finalist for State Teacher of the Year," says Moore. Those years were 1987-88 and 1988-89.

Moore says she probably was invited to attend the conference because she has been to several national conferences on mathematics education and because of a program on gender-bias she started in the Roanoke schools. The program, Project - Roanoke's Awareness In Scientific Education for Girls, was started to encourage girls to take math and science courses and to pursue careers in those fields.

"The program shows that it is all right for girls to have an interest in math and science, fields that are traditionally male-dominated. I can provide a female role model in the mathematics field for the girls; something I did not have when I was growing up," she says.

"Gender bias is a problem all over the world, and I believe that I can show the steps we took to address this problem in Roanoke," says Moore, who taught in Roanoke for 35 years. "Also, I worked with computers and even robotics as much as I could during my career, and I could show my knowledge in these fields."

Even though she has been retired for four years, Moore has kept busy. She has started a personal wellness program that includes walking and yoga on a weekly basis. She also has been employed as a customer service agent for Eastern Airlines and is working for an insurance testing company.

The Moscow conference would be the next project for Moore in her retirement.

"This is definitely an honor to be selected by my peers to attend this conference. I hope that I will be able to go."