Henrico's Top Teachers – Melanie Moore, Springfield Park ES

Melanie Moore always knew she wanted to become a teacher when she grew up. With a mother and sister working as art teachers, Moore grew up well acquainted with what it would take.

Now, as she approaches her 39th year of teaching elementary school students, Moore still gets excited every morning when her students enter the classroom.

“[P]eople have asked me ‘Why aren't you retiring?’ and I say, ‘What else would I do? Like, this is what I do, I don’t want to do anything else,’” Moore said.

In 2006, Moore began teaching fourth grade at Springfield Elementary School. Sixteen years later, she continues to be energized by her students’ budding individuality and eagerness to learn.

“She has taught at that school since it opened and has helped countless students reach their highest potential for learning while making them feel they are in a safe environment,” a nominator wrote of Moore. "She goes out of her way to cater to special interests of students in her teaching as a gifted instructor as well.”

“My favorite part of teaching fourth-graders is their curiosity,” Moore said, describing their contagious enthusiasm. “When they get interested in learning, it kind of sparks that excitement in me.”

Moore’s engagement with students goes far beyond lesson plans. When her students become eager to engage with something they’ve learned about, Moore is there with support and resources to help them thrive.

“I have a group of kids [this year] who are really into protecting the Earth, so learning about protecting the watershed really energized them,” she said. “Then we went out to the playground and there was trash, so then they wanted to clean that up.”

Moore grabbed rubber gloves and trash bags and helped her students clean the playground. Upon realizing how passionate her students were about the issue, she suggested they revive the school’s recycling program.

“Now every Wednesday they go around with the big trashcan and pick up the teachers’ recycling,” she said, adding that their interests continued to evolve.

“Then they were considering that there were too many plastic water bottles, and they wanted bins just for those. So I said ‘OK, write a letter to the principal and explain why.’”

The students enthusiastically wrote the letter and Moore scheduled a meeting with the principal for them. Each student read a paragraph, and the principal asked if they’d like to help raise the money for the containers.

“She helped them with the fundraising and now they have all this money so they can buy the recycling containers, plus they’re looking at getting rain barrels or composting,” she said. “So that’s been a fun way to kind of follow their interests.”

Moore’s nominator mentioned the recycling program specifically as a way that she has worked hard to touch the lives of her students.

When the pandemic struck, Moore, like other teachers, was confronted with the unprecedented challenges of creating a functional digital learning space. But even with a screen between them, she found ways to touch the lives of her students.

“Because our year was so unfinished together, I had a group of about eight kids who wanted to continue reading novels, and so we had a book club,” she said. “We would meet on like, a Monday afternoon after school, then in July we had a second book club.”

When hybrid learning left her classroom divided in two – those students in-person and those online – Moore found many ways to bridge the gap and avoid exclusion.

“It was a juggle to keep us as a community,” Moore said. “And so, when we were virtual, I would always have something outside for them to pick up, like a reading book, a Christmas tree, valentines.”

To keep students connected, Moore would often partner up in-person and online kids for assignments. During reading time, she would position the camera so that online students felt they were sitting in the circle with everyone else.

During lunch time, Moore would leave the virtual meeting on the screen so that students could socialize with their classmates. Moore also sent a postcard to her students every month, many of whom have told her they’ve held onto them.

“Mrs Moore has consistently inspired elementary students so much so that some will come back just to thank her,” her recommender wrote.

Though she found ways to make pandemic learning fun and effective, nothing beats in-person instruction, Moore said.

“Now this year, a big thing was closing those academic gaps left by the pandemic,” she said.

Even after almost four decades of working with students, the core tenets of Moore’s teaching philosophy remain the same.

“When I first started teaching I had nieces and nephews, and so I treated my students how I would want them treated,” she said. “A big thing too is finding what each kid is good at, like, what their biggest strength is, and acknowledging that. That also helps build a community, that idea that everyone has something to contribute.”

That mutual trust and respect that Moore has with her students creates a classroom dynamic in which students feel free to express themselves and explore their interests.