The Charter Institute is thrilled to announce Mrs. Cindy Reed of South Carolina Virtual Charter Schools (SCVCS) as our March Teacher of the Month! Mrs. Reed began her career in education over 25 years ago, combining her passion for teaching and her love of math to become a high school teacher. She has been a National Board Certified teacher since 2001. She pushes her students to pursue excellence in everything they do, believing that every student can achieve success through hard work and practice.
Mrs. Reed was inspired to become a teacher by her algebra teacher, Mrs. Underwood, who continuously challenged her to think differently and more deeply about the subjects she was learning. The bond she formed with Mrs. Underwood laid the foundation for her core beliefs as a teacher, and inspired the motto she constantly tells her students, “Practice makes progress.”
Her career underwent a drastic change in 2010 when she switched from teaching in a brick-and-mortar school to a virtual environment. Virtual teaching is a hard skill to master, and it was an even greater challenge before so many tools, apps, and sites were available that we use today. Mrs. Reed said, “[It] changed everything I knew about teaching, but I grew more in one year than I ever have!” This early experience would set her up well to become one of SCVCS’s teachers to help “build the plane while it was flying” in the first few years when SCVCS opened and experienced tremendous growth. She also founded one of the first virtual National Beta Clubs in the country when the charter was signed in 2015.
Teaching at SCVCS has given Mrs. Reed the opportunity to focus on each individual student in a way that she feels would not be possible in a brick-and-mortar environment. The strong network of support between administrators and teachers at SCVCS has helped her grow and learn how to engage her students more effectively. Virtual teaching has been a blessing to her teaching career, allowing her to try new and innovative methods and technologies.
Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Reed enjoys traveling with her husband and two children, but truly loves being at the beach, on the lake, or attending just about any sporting event you could think of. Even though Mrs. Reed’s students are virtual, sharing real life experiences with students each day keeps the personal connections with her students. “Even when teaching in a virtual or traditional setting, it all comes down to the same thing- relationships. Students want to feel valued, loved, and challenged at the same time.”
Mrs. Reed’s passion and dedication to the students of SCVCS make her more than deserving of the Teacher of the Month recognition. Congratulations, Mrs. Reed, and thank you for your commitment to the SCVCS community!
