by Rebekah Archuleta and Tyler Meyeres
We interviewed Pam Levie. She is the third and fourth grade teacher at Gardner, plus she is a mom and a coach. She said that she enjoys being a coach because she gets to see kids like Hanna Kleinschmidt and Olivia Cordova (5th grade) become more assertive and better players. They go from being shy players to confident, out-going stars.
Pam said she likes being a teacher to engage her students in motivating projects like building a Native American village, researching and making a model bird. She has been teaching at Gardner School since 1980. Now that is a long time! This year she has three students whose parents she taught. Her favorite subject is art, and the most challenging subject to teach is science, because you have to round up all of the materials for the experiments. Many of her children over the past years have disliked reading at first, but by the end of the year, 100% claim they love reading.
Her life outside of school revolves around her daughters, Allison and Claire. Currently she especially likes going to Claire’s volleyball games. When the volleyball games come around, she is in the stands cheering Claire on wildly. She also likes walking her dog (Ladybug).
Pam’s favorite memory in the past year was going to 11 national parks with her teenage daughters. Her favorite childhood memory was going to sleep-over camp. Her all-time favorite experience was having kids in her class and kids of her own.
As you can see, Pam Levi is a great teacher, coash and MOM!
