{"id":9173,"date":"2019-05-02T12:04:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T16:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=9173"},"modified":"2019-08-23T14:07:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T18:07:04","slug":"2020-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-rachel-k-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/2020-citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-rachel-k-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Citywide Teacher of the Year finalist: Rachel K. Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth article in a series of profiles about each finalist for Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2020 Citywide Teacher of the Year. The citywide winner will be announced at the Teacher of the Year dinner hosted by the Virginia Beach Education Foundation May 2.<\/em><\/p>\n

Princess Anne High School (PAHS) Spanish teacher Rachel Thompson discovered her love of teaching after substituting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned to teach, and by the end of the year, those kids were not just students, they were my<\/em> students,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cI was hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has taught for 15 years, all with Virginia Beach City Public Schools, but still finds knowledge each time she is in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still learning, still improving, still working every day to inspire my students to travel farther, empathize more deeply and never, ever, stop learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Thompson, it is important to share her passion of learning with her students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, teaching is inspiring student inquiry and fostering intercultural understanding,\u201d she said. \u201cMy road to becoming a teacher was birthed out of the desire to inspire hope and build a strong foundation for children.\u201d<\/p>\n

She reports that 85 of her former students have had the opportunity to study abroad and 15 are currently living overseas to attend school or for employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overseas trips I offer my students forge memories that last a lifetime and create culturally-responsible travelers,\u201d stated Thompson. \u201cBy engaging students in authentic cultural and linguistic experiences, it cultivates a growth mindset in them for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. Thompson\u2019s passion for teaching is evident by her relentless dedication to helping her student with course content as well as all aspects of their life,\u201d said PAHS Principal Danny Little. \u201cShe truly stands out for her selfless sacrifices she makes to provide our students opportunities to grow in all aspects of their lives.<\/p>\n

Although she did not see herself becoming a teacher in the beginning of her career, Thompson now knows she has found her true calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot imagine having another career. Teaching is one of the greatest parts of my life and my students are the best part of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit the division\u2019s <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> channels Thursday night to watch the 2020 Citywide Teacher of the Year announcement streamed live.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth article in a series of profiles about each finalist for Virginia Beach City Public Schools\u2019 2020 Citywide Teacher of the Year. The citywide winner will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9176,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9173\/revisions\/9176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}