Teaching has become more than an avocation for Anna Mitchell.
It fits neatly with her background in drama, where Mitchell often handled behind-the-scenes duties in assorted theatrical productions in her native Spring Hill.
As she grew up, Mitchell realized her dreams of becoming a movie director paralleled another passion: working with children.
I originally wanted to be a movie director, but I really wasnt that good at it, Mitchell joked. And I always liked school.
Mitchell, 22, was introduced this month as a fourth-grade instructor at Lincoln Elementary School.
Now, she will lean on her drama skills to help impart knowledge to her 14 fourth-graders.
All the worlds a stage, she wrote on the blackboard on the first day of school, relaying Shakespeares renowned monologue about life, a highlight from the bards classic As You Like It.
The quote does more than compare a play to the various stages of life, Mitchell explained.
Shell also use the quote as part of a geography discussion one day; or a language arts lesson the next.
Using theatrics as a tool to reach students of all ages is a key to success in the classroom, Mitchell said.
I want to get them excited to learn, to be comfortable to learn, Mitchell said.
That her first full-time teaching gig is at the fourth-grade level is no accident.
This is the age Ive always wanted to teach, she said. In fourth grade, the students dont have the attitude you see with middle-schoolers. Theyre still enthusiastic like younger students, but theyre able to think more on their own.
MITCHELL earned her teaching degree at Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., which led to her student-teaching experience at both the elementary and middle school levels in the Springfield school district.
The experience led to a pair of epiphanies.
First, teaching elementary students allowed her to focus on myriad subjects.
I get to teach everything, she said.
And Springfields size, with 34 elementary schools, taught her to embrace smaller districts, such as USD 257.
