TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER STILL FINDS HER JOB REWARDING AFTER 24 YEARS

DELTA -- During her first year as a teacher, Jo Ann Nance learned as much as her students.

"During my first year of teaching, I had two young ladies whose home life had provided a great deal of `worldly knowledge," said Nance, who now teaches kindergarten at the Mary Maud Hosea building in Delta.

"One day during bathroom break, they came rushing out of the bathroom shouting, `Ms. Nance, Ms. Nance, come see these words on the bathroom wall!' My mind raced as I entered the bathroom and flung open the stall which revealed large, two-inch letters scratched in the paint that read A, B, C, D..."

Even after that experience, Nance continues to teach kindergarten. She started the current school year in a first-grade classroom but moved to kindergarten after only eight days.

"I volunteered to move to kindergarten when the need arose," she said.

Nance has been teaching for 24 years and still finds it rewarding. The most gratifying part of the job is "when a child exceeds their own expectations and credits you with their success," she said.

Nance belongs to a family of teachers. Two sisters, a brother, three sister-in-laws, and a daughter-in-law are teachers. Both her mother and mother-in-law are retired teachers.

Nance and her husband, Ron, have two children and two grandchildren. She is a member of the Parent Teacher Organization, Community Teachers Association, Missouri State Teachers Association, Women's Missionary Society officer, and the SEMO cooperating teacher groups. She also is president of Stroderville Cemetery Association.