“When I was in first grade, I decided I wanted to be a teacher,” Daleville native Jamala Moore said about her career in education. “I guess I just loved school, loved the environment.” Moore described her situation as ironic because for the majority of her career, she served as a first grade teacher. She has worked for the Daleville City Schools system for 21 years, all at Windham Elementary School. She graduated from Daleville High School in 1993, and she later returned from college to intern at WES in 1997. M o o r e then became an instructional aide in 1998, and in 1999, she served as a physical education coach aide for about three months before becoming a first grade teacher. She taught first grade for 17 years until she became the Title I teacher for WES four years ago. “Basically, what I do… my focus is on reading intervention, so students who are below grade level who do not qualify for special education – they just need a little extra work, a little extra push – that’s where I come in,” she said. “The main focus (of my current position) is reading intervention for kindergarten, first and second grade. I’m involved, basically, in a lot of the testing that goes on around here: the STAR testing, DIBELS, the Scantron and ACCESS.” She said she is also “constantly” monitoring the progress of her students to make sure they are making the progress they need. As a teacher, she said seeing the progress of students throughout the school year is “the best feeling in the world.” “When you get a child in August who cannot read and then in May, they’re reading chapter books, that’s just the best feeling in the world,” she said, describing her experience as a first grade teacher. “Now, I’m doing my small groups with my intervention (work). I’m sitting there teaching, and I’m doing my hand signals and signs for the phonics; I see them applying it, and they’re reading. That is just my happy place.” Moore’s teaching philosophy is to “educate, protect and nurture” her students, all ideals reflected in her personal mission statement: “My personal mission statement as a teacher at Windham Elementary School is… I promise to educate, protect and nurture my students to the best of my God given abilities. I will do whatever has to be done to ensure my students achieve success on their educational journey in my classroom. This is who I am even when no one is watching.” She said she also hopes that her students learn from her that education can be fun and she is there to help. “I just hope the relationship (is there), that they feel comfortable with me and they know I’m not only here to teach them but to help them also,” she said. Of course, at the end of the day, Moore said she could think of no better place to work. “Daleville’s my home,” she said. “It’s my heart. I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.”