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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995                   TAG: 9503220041
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JULIE GRADY

Age: 43

Family: Husband, Carl; 13-year-old son, Cullen, and 11-year-old daughter, Sara

Favorite place growing up: Grady grew up in a military family and moved a lot, but she said she best liked living in Paris when she was 12 and 13 years old.

Hobbies: "I know it sounds crazy but my hobby is chemistry education. If I had a choice on how to spend my time, it would be teaching."

Idea of a perfect night out: "My in-laws' house, being with them in their home."

Favorite teacher while in school: "A geometry teacher in Fayetteville, N.C., who helped give me confidence."

Last book read: She reads many at the same time. Some of those include, "Sphere" by Michael Crichton and "Black Horses and Baby Universes" by Stephen Hawking

Favorite meal: "Probably around my mother's table with roast beef and mashed potatoes."

Julie Grady has found the secret to successful teaching: She lets students know she cares.

It's as simple as that.

"It's really important that kids know you really want to hear what they have to say," said Grady, a chemistry teacher at Blacksburg High School.

For the past 22 years, Grady has been listening to her students, adjusting her curriculum to make chemistry interesting for them. In her class, you won't hear long lectures or videotapes.

You'll go on caving field trips and use chemistry to learn about various cave formations. You'll go canoeing and use chemistry skills to take water quality tests.

You'll even read books - like "Sphere" by Michael Crichton - that employ chemistry principles and still manage to be interesting.

"I try to make a connection with the real world," Grady said. "Especially with the female students. They want to know how [chemistry] will affect them."

Grady's students like chemistry so much that she started an Advanced Placement Chemistry class last year, attracting more than 50 percent female students.

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Last month, the Blacksburg chapter of the American Association of University Women voted Grady the AAUW's teacher of the year.

"She was pretty much an obvious choice for the first year," said AAUW President Paula Wilder. "She's a member of the AAUW, she gives workshops for student teachers and she has worked at AAUW conferences. We know what she has done has resulted in increased awareness."

"I think the publication 'How Schools Shortchange Girls' really changed my perceptions," Grady said. "It inspired me to read more articles especially related to math and science."

Grady said that while she has learned how to keep subtle biases out of her class to encourage the female students to speak out, she has also learned how to manage her entire class better.

"Now, I ask myself, 'Is there any population I'm handling wrong?'" Grady said. "Originally, my emphasis was the female students, but now it helps the males, too."