November 18, 2019
By: Bill Conger
DeKalb West School chose Karen France as its Teacher of the Month.
“Being chosen as teacher of the month is a great honor,” says France. “There are lots of amazing teachers at DeKalb West and to be able to work with these teachers on a daily basis is a privilege. I love coming to work knowing that everyone around me is working hard with the common goal of doing what’s best for our students.”
“Mrs. France has high expectations for all her students and strives to achieve that with each student,” Principal Sabrina Farler said. “She does a wonderful job differentiating her instruction for each student. DeKalb West School is blessed to have her as our 8th grade math and science teacher.”
France has been teaching 8th grade for 15 years, the last five years of which were at DWS. A 2001 graduate of DeKalb County High School, she attended Motlow State in Tullahoma on an academic and athletic scholarship where she played softball for two years. Then, she earned her Bachelors, Masters and Educational Specialist degrees all from Tennessee Tech.
France says she first knew she wanted to pursue a career in education when she was a student at DWS.
“In sixth grade my homeroom teacher was Ms. Jeanna Caplinger, and she always let some of her students help out around the classroom. That was the year I decided I wanted to become a teacher. At the time, I thought it was so much fun to clean the room and grade papers, but now, those are the things I HATE doing in my classroom,” France says with a laugh.
“I had the opportunity to have Mrs. France as a student during my first year of teaching at DeKalb Middle School,” says teacher Jeanna Caplinger. “She was a very helpful student that always brightened my day and helped me to survive that first year.”
“Teaching is not what I expected it to be,” France admits. “I have always loved school, and I was always a great student. Learning came easy to me so I assumed teaching would be easier, but it’s not. Planning lessons, preparing materials, grading papers, etc is a lot more work than I thought it would be.”
Congratulations to Karen France, Teacher of the Month at DWS!