As she observed the 6th grade Math station activities, Mrs. Graham smiled excitedly at Mrs. Williams and circulated around the room to check in with students about what they were doing.

Having had good instructional specialists in her career who supported her in her classroom inspired Mrs. Graham to transition from teacher to instructional specialist.

“Teachers work so hard to ensure they are providing the best education for our scholars, and I wanted to be able to support teachers in the same way,” Mrs. Graham said. “I learn so much from everyone.”

Mrs. Graham earned a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education from UAFS and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Arkansas Tech University.

The people here are what Mrs. Graham likes best because everyone is like family.

“I enjoy being around the students, and I love every opportunity to be in their classrooms to support them and their teachers while learning,” Mrs. Graham said. “Education equals opportunity.”

Before coming here, Mrs. Graham taught 7th and 8th grade Language Arts, Social Studies, and Project Lead the Way – Medical Detectives at Darby Middle School Health Sciences Academy. She also taught 3rd through 6th grade all subjects at Sutton Elementary School where she taught some of Kimmons’ current 8th graders.

As for her first year as an instructional specialist, Mrs. Graham’s favorite memories involve the ones where teachers apply new strategies they are learning.

“They get excited and can’t wait to tell me how it affected students in the classroom,” Mrs. Graham said. “When students are progressing, we all get excited.”

As an instructional specialist, Mrs. Graham’s biggest challenge is trying to circulate to all of the math and science classrooms.
“Sometimes scheduling gets in the way,” Mrs. Graham said.

One surprising fact about Mrs. Graham is that she used to be a department manager at Whirlpool.

“I accepted the layoff in 2006 to go back to school before the company moved to Mexico,” Mrs. Graham said.

Outside of school, Mrs. Graham enjoys spending time with her family.

“We always make time to cook out, visit, and do fun things together,” Mrs. Graham said.