Two sisters, one school building…double trouble or double power?

You decide.

Kellie Henley and Lisa Powers both teach at Princess Anne Elementary School. Henley teaches third, fourth, and fifth grade special education and Powers teaches fourth grade. As a matter of fact, the classroom in which Powers is now teaching was her very own fourth grade class a number years back.

Henley got into education because she was inspired as a child by members of her community who had special needs. Powers was a career switcher. She had been a YMCA Senior Director and when her husband’s job landed her back in Virginia Beach, she began subbing. At the encouragement of Kelly Coon, principal, she went back through the Career Switcher Program to gain certification in elementary education.

Both women have solid advice for beginning teachers. Powers would tell new teachers that they should not be afraid to make mistakes and not to be frightened of admitting those mistakes in front of students.

“It makes you human and soon students will be willing to take chances because they won’t be afraid to make a mistake,” Powers said.

Henley would pass on advice she received. She would tell each new teacher to find something in common with each child, especially the challenging child. She would also remind them to “…have an open mindset.”

Over the summer, Henley and Powers used the time to reflect, to look back at what worked and what didn’t work. Each attended conferences and workshops. Henley is looking to incorporating strategic points from the Mandt training in which she participated. She is planning on really evaluating her reactions to students and monitoring her reactions and even her body language. Powers is on the Design Fellows Team and will be incorporating personalized learning in her classroom and will be teaching the programs, Nearpod and Brainpop to other teachers and using them in her room.

Henley did add that she has an advantage as a special education teacher going into other teachers’ classrooms. She said, “I get to work with new teachers and their new ideas. I learn from every single teacher with whom I work.”

Students in these ladies’ classes do get a leg up on making their dreams a reality. One child in Powers’s class wrote to her and said, “Thank you for believing in me and thinking I’m smart.”  As Powers talked more about him, her pride in his accomplishments was apparent. She talked about how quiet he was and how he became more confident over the year. She finished by saying, “He passed all his SOLs!”  Henley in working with her students with special needs, is ever cognizant of her children’s needs. Her sister quickly chimed in that she is an advocate for each of her students and works tirelessly to give the students with whom she works the tools to move toward independence.

Finally, when these two sisters were asked how their students would describe them, they looked at each other and chimed simultaneously, “Crazy!”

But then to clarify, added quickly, “…but not crazy bad, crazy as in fun.”