The story below is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
The best teachers we know learned it from their mentors — meet four students who became masters of their classrooms.
Editor's Note: Learn more about teachers and their mentors in our podcast education episode, featuring Lord Botetourt High School Assistant Principal Jimmy Yager, as he shares more about learning from and being a teaching mentor.
One of my favorite teachers — and mentors — when I attended Roanoke College was the late Dennis Lape. Sadly, it was not until I attended a memorial service for him that I realized yet another way he had impacted my teaching career. A speaker eulogizing Dr. Lape said the professor’s favorite saying was, “When you’re writing, tell me something I don’t know.” The same instruction I often give my students at Lord Botetourt High School.
Four Roanoke Valley teachers shared their own reflections on the mentors who helped them.
Jimmy Yager, Lord Botetourt High School
Jimmy Yager, who teaches Statistics and Algebra Functions at Lord Botetourt, relates that he has benefitted from numerous role models during his 20 years of teaching, the last seven in Botetourt. (Editor’s note: Yager was recently named the new assistant principal at Lord Botetourt.)
“Even though I never met him, my grandfather was my first mentor,” says the 50-year-old instructor who the Botetourt Kiwanis recognized as their teacher of the year in 2022. “He was superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, and my mom always emphasized that he spent his life helping others and supporting the community. That caused me to have the vision that I wanted to have an impact.”
Bruce Ingram
Jimmy Yager, Lord Botetourt math teacher, says many individuals helped him on his path to become a teacher.
Yager began his journey as a Young Life youth minister in Baltimore and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The Botetourt resident says those posts were where youth minister Mark Herman encouraged him to become “a humble, servant leader in the community,” as well as the importance of positively impacting the lives of young people.
But it was a lawn care businessman, of all professions, that actually steered Yager toward an education career.
“I wanted to become a golf club professional, but Jay Belt convinced me that I was born to teach,” recalls Yager. “My first teaching job was in Fredericksburg City, and a math teacher, George Crale, was my mentor there. George was passionate about teaching, really cared for the kids and everything he did involved a striving for excellence.
“My first few weeks of teaching, I would come home exhausted, then collapse on the floor and wonder how I could get through the next day.”
But Yager persevered and said that Crale and the family-type atmosphere of the faculty helped him survive that first year. His next posting was at James River High School in Botetourt, where he spent two years.
“My mentor at River was Janet McCarter,” Yager says. “She helped me to acclimate to the school and emphasized the pride of being able to teach for the system and always being sure to give the students my best. When I moved to Lord Botetourt, there was that same feeling.
“Dr. Russ, our superintendent, projects a compassionate, level-headed leadership style and that positive atmosphere carries through to administrators and teachers in our individual schools.”
Yager believes his most creative lesson is Casino Day, which he designed himself.
“My students each create their own unique game of chance,” he says. “Then we invite other classes to come play those games so they too can understand how theoretical games of chance operate. I encourage my game operators to dress like casino personnel, and I myself wear a tux, white shirt and bowtie.”
Amber Benson & Ruby Voss, Northside Middle School
Amber Benson and Ruby Voss co-teach Math 8 at Northside Middle School. That collaboration has worked so well that the Association for Middle Level Education named the duo as their educators of the year for 2022-23.
Benson has taught for 12 years, the past six at Northside Middle.
Bruce Ingram
Amber Benson and Ruby Voss of Northside Middle School not only team teach, but they also dress the same.
“My grandmother was my inspiration for becoming a teacher,” she says. “She began her career as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Highland County and ended it as a principal in that county.
“When I was little, she would tell me stories about how much she loved teaching kids. Those stories fascinated me so much that when I was eight, I told my mom that I was going to become a teacher.”
Voss has taught for 18 years, the past six at Northside Middle, but only after enduring two years as an accountant.
“When I was an accountant, I realized that the only thing that made me happy was going to school and learning every day, so I decided to go back to school forever,” she says.
Benson and Voss have co-taught for six years, and both proclaim that their mentors are three Northside Middle administrators. Principal Dr. Paul Lineburg, they say, projects a calming demeanor no matter what happens and deeply cares about the needs and concerns of parents, teachers, and students.
Assistant Principal Carina Hughes encouraged the twosome to reach out to other teachers and discover what activities proved successful for them and how they could be adapted to math. And Assistant Principal Nancy Chewning is described as someone with a strong work ethic who is committed to knowing the needs of students and their families as well as believing that every student can learn and be successful.
The duo’s most creative lesson involves grafting inequalities.
“We take the students outside and have them use hula hoops and hopper balls to graph open and closed circles on giant number lines,” Voss says. “Another fun lesson involves alien spaceship beams sucking up cows to teach students about vertical lines. This helps students to test whether a relation is a function.”
Alyssa Pinello, G.W. Carver Elementary
Alyssa Pinello has been teaching third grade for eight years, all of them at G.W. Carver. Her role model is her mother Lynda, a third grade teacher at East Salem Elementary.
“I have always wanted to be a teacher, but I think a large part of that was watching my mom do what she did best,” Pinello says. “She has inspired me from day one because she always puts relationships first. She has kids who still come back to her yearly and remind her what an impact she’s made on their lives.
“I grew up with amazing and inspiring teachers. My family moved to Salem when I was in the eighth grade, and I went to Andrew Lewis Middle and then Salem High School. Debbie Stratton at the high school was the one who encouraged me to always pursue my dreams. She made it known that I was born to teach and if I didn’t, it would truly be a waste of natural talent.”
Courtesy of Salem City Schools
Lynda and Alyssa Pinello frequently work together on lesson plans.
Pinello did her teaching internship at East Salem and was able to work with her mom daily as well as with other instructors – further strengthening the bond with her mother, as well as gaining the perspective of other teachers. When Pinello started her career at Carver, the twosome even planned their daily lessons together, and even today they share resources, ideas and behavior management techniques on a daily basis.
Pinello believes one of her most creative lessons is the daily lesson she and co-teacher Melissa May have devised.
“We start the day with Morning Meeting,” Pinello says. “Usually there is a greeting, a math challenge, song, yoga and short video to get students engaged. Then we do whole group math independently in each room. All kids are put into groups based on ability, and they rotate to do different activities in each classroom.
“The kids who struggle may have multiple intervention groups between us and the reading teacher and other specialists. We have separate special activity times, but the kids eat lunch together. There are several subjects throughout the day where Melissa takes over and teaches the entire class while I support behavior/academic struggles and vice versa. This program has been amazing and we are already seeing the benefits to the kids being in our classes.”
Nelly Cardenas Tapia, Fairview Elementary
Nelly Cardenas Tapia says her impetus to become a teacher came from an experience during her freshman year at Roanoke College.
“I was not intending to go into education,” says the third grade teacher at Fairview Elementary. “But Roanoke required students to volunteer in the community, and I ended up doing so at Blue Ridge Literacy in a class for English learners. As an immigrant and English learner, this experience was inspiring.
Courtesy of Nelly Cardenas Tapia
Nelly Cardenas Tapia expresses gratitude for her many mentors at Fairview Elementary.
“So there I was helping others learn just as I had years ago. The satisfaction I gained from serving the community made me want to go into teaching and continue to serve others in that capacity.”
Interestingly, Cardenas Tapia did her student teaching at Fairview where she went during grade school. During that time, her supervising teacher was Ashley Duffy, her former fourth grade teacher. The school’s English as a Second Language teacher Joanna Sojka became yet another link to the past as Sojka served in the same capacity for Cardenas Tapia.
“During my student teaching experience, I was so blessed to have Mrs. Duffy and Ms. Sojka mentoring me,” says Cardenas Tapia. “Now, I work alongside an amazing team of educators including Scott Stanley and David Ferris, also my former teachers, and Andrew Minnix.”
Cardenas Tapia, who is about to begin her second year as a teacher, also praises Roanoke City Public Schools BONDS program (Boosting Opportunities for New Diverse Staff). She says that her BONDS contact, Anna Delgado, checks in with her at least weekly, always available to help her navigate the ups and downs that all new teachers experience.
Creative Lesson?
“My third grade team has this great lesson about oceans,” Cardenas Tapia says. “Our students put on Virtual Reality goggles and take a tour of the ocean depths as if they were down there swimming. The kids actually get to see the animals they are reading about. Later, when the students write about their VR tour, they seem to understand so much better what they experienced.”
The Roanoke Valley is fortunate to have such dedicated teachers who benefitted from mentors during their formative years. And now these teachers are serving as mentors for the valley’s young people.
The story above is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!