Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
New teacher, Mrs. Toni Orr, at Worland Middle School holds up her Vision board; An activity she is doing with the students.
As the school year begins anew there are many new teachers and staff greeting students. One of these new faces is Worland Middle School special education teacher Toni Orr.
Orr has been teaching for many years. She started off as a substitute while she was still in college before becoming a paraeducator not long after. She went on to become an educator full time and has been one for 20 years. Originally, she wanted to go into athletic training, as she had been one during her high school years, but ended up with an English major, which led into education. After teaching in regular classroom for eight years, Orr decided to get her special education degree.
This year she is covering direct reading, strategies and co-taught English, along with being the sixth grade special education caseload contact.
She said she is excited to support students in their core classes and help them focus on their future. Her favorite part of teaching is building a relationship with her students and helping them make connections. She hopes to help students with their goal setting. One activity that she is doing to help them with this is vision boards.
Orr believes teaching has helped her become a better human being, a better parent, decision maker and more involved in the community. When asked to clarify she said, "I try to teach how it's so important to be a good human, to be kind, to be respectful, and I try to model that, of course, imperfectly, but it is a goal."
Besides being a teacher, she said, "I'm also an active member of the state and local education associations, so I represent other teachers. I'm a voice for them, because they're supporting our students and teaching our students and not all of them have the opportunity to speak for themselves."
She wants parents to know that she will support the kids and be a resource for parents. Orr added, "I hope when I retire that anybody who sees me can tell me that what they learned was not just something academic in the classroom, but something from life."
