Chase your dreams! Believe in yourself! Don’t expect things to be handed to you, but work hard and great things will come! Help others! Always be kind!
Lee began teaching at Colo-NESCO in 1984. She taught three years of kindergarten, 25 years of first grade, four years of fourth grade, and three years of sixth grade. She has taught in all three locations of the Colo-NESCO district.
Why become a teacher? Joy replied, “I can’t pinpoint why I chose to teach as my career path, other than I have always loved kids. I just know I made the right choice because even as I retire, I walk away still loving to come to school each day and still loving the interactions I have with students every day. I daily see kids succeed, and I am always blown away by what they can do when their effort level is high,” she continued.
Joy’s favorite subject she has taught throughout the years is reading. “I love reading because I love books, and I love seeing kids get excited about books and become proficient readers,” she stated. “I taught all subjects in kindergarten, first, and fourth grade, but in sixth I have just taught reading/language arts. At all levels, reading is the subject I love most,” she continued.
How has teaching changed throughout the years? Joy answered, “When I first started, I marched 36 kindergarteners up three flights of stairs many times a day. Now, there are no stairs at all! Crazy! We use to run copies with a mimeograph machine. Now I send what I want printed directly from my computer most of the time. We use to have chalkboards and manual pencil sharpeners. What a great thing an electric pencil sharpener is and a whiteboard! Kids spent a lot of time learning to write neatly and now keyboarding is a skill they need besides,” she concluded.