About Me
My name is Madison Lewis and my fourth and final year as a student of the Cormier Honors College within Longwood University is currently in progress. I am a Liberal Studies major with a concentration in Elementary Education; I plan to pursue the Reading, Literacy, & Learning graduate program at Longwood next year which will result in my licensure as a reading specialist. Ultimately, I also plan to earn additional certification that will allow me to work with talented and gifted students.
When I was much younger, I tossed around many different ideas about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I considered everything from a cowgirl during the week and a doctor on the weekends to a full-time astronomer! I didn’t “officially” decide to become a teacher until I was thirteen, but I think I have subconsciously known that I was born to be an educator since I was six years old. My earliest memory pointing me to this conclusion is of a day when I saw my first grade teacher using a unique classroom discipline system and thought to myself, “Wow, I like that! I need to remember that in case I’m the teacher one day!”
I have had so many wonderful teachers who have set superb examples for me; among them is my third grade teacher, Mrs. Lynda Moore. An attendee of Longwood herself, Mrs. Moore was like another grandmother to me. I kept in touch with her until she passed away just prior to my sophomore year of high school. Without realizing what I was doing at the time, in the coming years I continued to file exciting things in the back of my mind that I saw Mrs. Moore and other influential teachers of mine doing, “just in case I got to be the teacher one day.” When I outgrew my fantasies and started for the first time to seriously consider what career path I wanted to pursue, it took me no time at all to realize that I already knew I was going to be the teacher one day.
My current plan for after I finish college is to begin my teaching career in a typical, general-education elementary classroom before earning my Reading Specialist’s license and then ultimately working with talented and gifted students. I babysit and have grown close to a young boy who is extraordinarily gifted, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the unique way his mind works. My dream is to give students like him the kind of education they deserve by challenging them and exposing them to opportunities and ideas as unique and special as their brains, just as the Cormier Honors College of Longwood University has done for me.
