Second grade proved to be a pivotal grade for Alexis Huttie. When she was in second grade, she ended up taking “a year of growth”. And then she would find herself experiencing that grade many times over but in a very different way.
Huttie’s return to 2nd grade would become the seed that inspired her to become a teacher. “I wasn’t the strongest reader, and I wasn’t the most confident student in the world. Taking that year off was a difficult decision that my parents, who are both teachers, allowed me to make.” Huttie worked to repeat a lot of the skills she had struggled with to become a more independent learner.
She excelled in school from thereon. She graduated from Dover High School and received a full scholarship to Delaware State University through the Scholar Teach Educators Program (STEP) to pursue a degree in Education.
In her senior year at Dover High, Huttie did an internship at Fairview Elementary school with Susan Adams, her old kindergarten teacher. The first day of her internship was September 11, 2001. “Seeing how much of a difference the educators made that day solidified that this is what I want to do.”
Huttie returned to teaching with a position at South Dover Elementary School. At 600 students, South Dover has one of the largest and most diverse elementary student populations in the state. After six years at South Dover, Huttie was nominated for Capital School District Teacher of the year in 2018 and won. “It was one of my most humbling experiences ever. I am my biggest critic.”
“I believe that school should be a memorable and meaningful experience. It’s not just about the numbers or shoving knowledge into the students’ brains. It is about understanding the whole child. So I often wear some kind of crazy costume or Wonder Woman outfit — my alter ego. Everything in my classroom is superheroes.”
