Our CPSD Staff Spotlight this week features Tyee Park Elementary School first grade teacher Erica Gorrell. She is in her second year at the school after nine years teaching in Delaware.
She taught kindergarten last year and moved up to first grade along with her students. “I love teaching foundational skills, so the younger students are really where my heart is as a teacher,” she said.
Born and raised in West Virginia, Erica didn’t initially plan on going into teaching. As the oldest of eight siblings, she grew up teaching her brothers and sisters every day. What encouraged her to get into teaching for her career were the relationships she built with teachers she had in school.
“I still talk to many of those teachers today,” she said. “I learned from them about how instrumental relationships are to being a successful teacher. I believe you need to be able to build real relationships with your students and their families to be successful.”