UMW alumna Amelia Carr recently received the 2021 New Elementary Teacher award from Fairfax County Public Schools. Carr earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 2019 and a master’s degree in elementary education from UMW’s College of Education last year.
When Amelia Carr taught her kindergartners to recognize words by sight, she got a little help from her siblings. In a YouTube video, the trio belts out Sister Sledge’s ’70s anthem We Are Family, with Carr demonstrating on a whiteboard how to write the word “we.”
For her ingenuity, passion and knack for making learning fun, the University of Mary Washington alumna was recently named Fairfax County Public Schools’ 2021 Outstanding New Elementary Teacher.
In her classroom at Bucknell Elementary, a Title I school near her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, Carr puts into practice the lessons she learned at UMW. Navigating a worldwide pandemic and teaching online was challenging, she said, but also a confidence and creativity builder. “I wanted to make my instruction as engaging as possible,” she said of virtual learning, which lasted through late February for most of her students. Read more.