Teaching is not only a passion for Teresa Taylor; it is her lifelong dream.

“I always knew I wanted to go into education,” she said. “I always loved playing teacher when I was little,” she added with a laugh.

Taylor, who teaches fifth-grade math at Hunter Elementary, recently was honored by the Carter County school system as teacher of the year for the grades 5-8 division.

Even though Taylor began her teaching career in 2000, she actually has been in the school system much longer, since kindergarten in fact.

“I’ve been in Carter County Schools since I was 5 years old,” she said.

Taylor attended Unaka Elementary School and in 1992 she graduated from Unaka High School.

“When I graduated high school, I went back that summer and worked at the high school,” she said. Taylor continued to work in the office at Unaka High School while she went to college. She graduated from East Tennessee State University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and was hired by the school system to teach at Hunter. She later received a master’s degree in supervision and administration from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate.

She has been at Hunter ever since, first teaching a third-grade class, then moving to Title I math. Later she taught sixth-grade math, and now she teaches fifth-grade math.

“The kids are great, and the administration is great,” Taylor said of her school. “There isn’t anything I can think of that I would say is bad at Hunter.”

She has a lot of good things to say, though.

“One of the things I like best about teaching at Hunter Elementary are my two teaching partners — Karen Norris and Judy Williams,” she said. “They are super people and so very supportive. I can’t say enough about them.”

At Hunter Elementary, the teachers are matched up with “teaching partners” who serve as mentors and support for each other. They work together to share and develop classroom strategies, discuss alternative teaching styles and sometimes just be a shoulder to lean on, Taylor said.

“They are just wonderful people and I am so thankful for them,” Taylor said of Norris and Williams.

Not only has Taylor had the opportunity to work alongside some wonderful teachers during her career, she had the opportunity to learn from some excellent teachers as well when she was attending school at Unaka Elementary and Unaka High.

“I had several teachers that I felt were inspiring to me,” she said.

Working with the children is one of Taylor’s most favorite parts of her job, and is the reason she wanted to become a teacher.

“I like to think that what I have to offer counts,” she said. “If you have positively affected the life of a child – even just one child – then you have accomplished something.”

The job has been rewarding, Taylor said, but it has also been a career full of surprises.

“I enjoy the kids. There is never, never a dull moment,” she said. “I will never be one of those people who will say they have seen it or heard it all because it is something new every single day.”

The students at Hunter are, in Taylor’s words, hardworking and awesome and she enjoys getting to be a part of their education. And, whenever she gets a chance to make the classroom fun for her students, Taylor takes it.

“We laugh and we’re loud and we’re up, but it’s OK, because we’ve learned,” she said.