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

DATE: MONDAY, April 18, 1994                   TAG: 9404190042
SECTION: NEWSFUN                    PAGE: NF-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEACHER OF THE WEEK

When Nancy Hord returned to teaching after taking time off to stay home with her children, she came back armed with valuable off-the-job experience. "Being a mom not only helped me relate to the students, but also to the parents," she said. "I could see things more from a parent's perspective than I did before I had children."

Hord teaches "a little bit of everything" at Roanoke's Shedd Early Learning Center, a school with an ungraded curriculum where small classes help each pupil, many of whom have special learning needs, receive individual attention.

"Mrs. Hord goes the extra mile to help me," said the pupil who nominated her. "She spends a lot of individual time with her students, always willing to help with problems."

Hord admits to being heavy-handed with praise for her pupils. "If you praise them for even the smallest accomplishments, they'll continue to succeed," she said.

Married and the mother of four, Hord enjoys church work, reading, sewing and walking.