By Michelle Walbaum
Jessica Amodio, one of the six instructors named Teacher of the Year by the Hopewell Valley Education Foundation, has her second grade teacher to thank for inspiring her to go down a teaching career path.
Her teacher’s full name escapes her after so many years, but the memories of how she conducted her class has stuck in her mind, as she was “before her time,” Amodio said. “In my time, it was all rows and you face the board and you didn’t get up. But she didn’t do that— she definitely inspired me. It was fun to go to school with her, she ran a lot of hands-on projects and just always made you feel like you could succeed. You felt confident in her room and comfortable. And that’s how I strive to be with my kids.”
Amodio said she feels that learning should never be boring to students. “If they’re not enjoying it, then I’m doing something wrong.”
Amodio is now a second grade teacher herself at Toll Gate Grammar School, and has been doing so for nine years. Her passion for teaching is clear to her colleagues. Colleagues who nominated her for the award praised her for her “infectious love of learning” and her consistent efforts to make learning an exciting and relevant experience, according to a press release written by district spokesperson JoAnn Meyer.
“I was very surprised, excited and honored,” Amodio said. “To be nominated by your colleagues, it’s pretty special. I think everyone in the school really deserves this award, because everyone works really hard. I was very humbled by it.”
While she loves her position now, Amodio didn’t start out to be a teacher. Before finding her calling, she took a slight detour, following in the footsteps of her father who worked in law enforcement in Mercer County. Also donning the police uniform, she worked as a detective for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. While Amodio said it felt good to make a difference in the community, it was draining after a while.
“You see a lot of horrible things that surround children, and I wanted to be more proactive rather than reactive,” she said.
She realized that the process of teaching children how to read always has intrigued her—especially in the nearly magical way children pick it up after learning letters and sounds. That interest, along with the memories of her second grade class, got her thinking about a career in teaching.
So she went back to school, earning her master’s degree in elementary education at The College of New Jersey. She came to Toll Gate Grammar School after brief stints in Hillsborough Township at the Woods Road Elementary School, and at Greenwood Elementary School in Hamilton Township.
Ever since, she has been delighted to teach a class that ranges from 18-25 students every year.
“They’re like sponges, they love learning. It just inspires me everyday,” she said. She added that her favorite part of the job is seeing children grow in their understanding of different concepts, their level of comprehension increasing day by day.
“It’s something I absolutely love,” she added. “Everyday you see a connection being made, they understand something that they’re learning, and it just makes everything worthwhile.”
