MISSOULA — Our first One Class at a Time winner of the New Year comes to us from Washington Middle School in Missoula.
Lissa Olinger teaches a wide variety of subjects, and she loves working with the age group.
"They're a fun group of kids. I love their sense of humor, their curiosity, their sarcasm most of the time. They are really challenging in a good way,” Olinger said. “They make me a better teacher and I just love coming to work every day and seeing what things we can do together."
Olinger will use her $250 grant to update her classroom library, which is currently lacking in engaging, age-appropriate novels in a variety of genres, such as sci-fi and realistic fiction.
Ollinger wants to be able to hand a student a book that they can relate to and connect with to help foster the love of reading.
"Have all sources, genres available to open doors to new adventures. A lot of times students don't know that they might like a particular genre until they receive one and talk about it,” Olinger explained. “And to have a chance to talk about literature in the books that we are reading is really critical at this age."