Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180360
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Melissa DeVaughn
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fran Shepherd has taught in Montgomery County Schools for almost 20 years, currently teaching Chapter One and Reading Recovery at Prices Fork. She will be honored at the State Reading Association conference next week in Arlington.
"My husband and sister both told me they knew I'd done enough work [to earn the honor]," Shepherd said. "But I was still surprised. There were other counties with entries that I thought may win."
Six other entries from the New River Valley were examined by a three-member committee and three additional anonymous judges.
"[Shepherd] is a quality teacher, who goes above and beyond her regular teaching assignments," said Martha Ann Stallings, a teacher at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School and member of the committee. "She is good about building self-esteem in the children and that is very important."
Shepherd often can be found at Prices Fork on Friday evenings reading with her pupils in a program called "Friday Night Prime Time." On these nights, Shepherd combines half-hour reading intervals with fun activities to keep the kids reading.
She also invites adults to come to her classes and read to the children, showing them that not only teachers are readers. In an effort to build self-esteem among the fifth-graders, she often asks them to read to kindergarteners, where they can make mistakes while not being under pressure.
"You can attach reading to anything in the world," Shepherd said. "You're so unlimited ... it's important to start the kids out at an early age so they never have to meet the frustration [of having problems.]"
by CNB