DATE: Wednesday, April 30, 1997             TAG: 9704300497

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   51 lines

IN-HOME PRACTICE HELPS SUFFOLK'S TOP TEACHER

Tawney J. Moller, announced Tuesday as the city's Teacher of the Year, has had a long career in education. She just didn't get paid for it for the first, oh, 30 years or so.

Moller graduated from high school in 1960. Married her high-school sweetheart. Raised three children. Volunteered with their Parent-Teacher Associations, Head Start and other education programs. Taught Sunday School to children and Bible studies to adults.

Once her children were grown and gone, Moller decided she wanted to teach for a living. She enrolled in her first college course at age 44. Her first paying job outside the home came here at age 48, as a kindergarten teacher.

Less than seven years later, she's been tapped as the city's top teacher, and will compete for the state honor, if somewhat reluctantly. She heaped credit on fellow teachers with whom she shares ideas and support.

``It was a shock,'' Moller said Tuesday. ``I really feel like I'm representing all of them. I'm one of many. Plus, they didn't have room to put everybody's name on the plaque.''

For six years she has taught second-graders at Kilby Shores Elementary School, bringing the hands-on techniques she used with her own children and in all those Sunday School classes. She's also known to her peers and bosses for her long hours in the school and her dedication outside of school, using a luggage cart to tote work home most nights.

``I have to make her go home, because after midnight I turn into a pumpkin,'' joked Moller's principal, Carolyn S. Dixon.

Moller likes second-graders because they've got the basics under their belts and are ready to soak up her lessons.

``They just blossom,'' Moller said of the age group. ``Especially after Christmas, they just take off. . . . When they start correcting the teacher, I know they're well on their way.''

Also announced Tuesday were other Suffolk teaching-award winners:

Elementary School Teacher of the Year - Amy M. Espinosa, a reading teacher at Southwestern Elementary with 14 years' experience.

Middle School Teacher of the Year - Gloria J. Colbert, a reading teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle who's been teaching 28 years.

High School Teacher of the Year - Deborah C. Creekmur, an 18-year veteran who teaches work and family studies to seniors at Nansemond River High. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

Suffolk teacher Tawney J. Moller likes working with second-graders

at Kilby Shores Elementary School because they've learned the basics

and are ready to blossom. KEYWORDS: TEACHER OF THE YEAR

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