Melodie Miller Goodman

My journey in education began when I was just five years old in kindergarten. My teacher read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom every day, and I memorized every page before I could even decode on my own. One day, she invited me to sit in the teacher chair and read the story to my classmates. As they sat at my feet, smiling and laughing while I performed the story with silly voices and animation, I had a moment I'll never forget - I knew this is what I needed to do for the rest of my life. From that point on, my focus was on becoming an elementary school teacher. I started my formal education in education at St. George's Vo-Tech for early childhood education at age 14, where I spent almost 50% of my high school day learning about child development, pedagogy, and early childhood education. I then earned my associate's degree in elementary education from Delaware Tech through the SEED Scholarship, followed by my bachelor's in elementary education from Wilmington University with teaching certificates in elementary education (kindergarten through 6th grade) and special education (kindergarten through 12th grade). After spending my first six years teaching first grade, I realized that reading is the biggest thing in first grade, and I fell deeply in love with literacy. Seeing the difference I made in students' confidence and their love for reading, and being able to give them that spark when it comes to literacy and their belief in themselves, made me want to dig deeper into literacy work. I then earned my master's in multicultural education, driven by my extreme passion for multiple types of people and cultures and how that impacts the education process. This really helped me support all learners - special education students, English language learners, and literally multicultural in every sense of the word. I am currently part of the first cohort of state early literacy coaches with the Delaware Department of Education, now in my second year. In this role, I coach teachers and instructional coaches, lead PLCs and professional development, and make connections with teachers, leaders, and district staff to help them create a culture of coaching and improve their literacy practices for K-3 students. I hope to get my doctorate in the next few years in organizational leadership and change because I love the idea of supporting new programs and helping our industry grow. The most rewarding thing about what I do is being able to bring out the potential in other people - whether that's the students I've worked with, the teachers I'm now working with, or the instructional coaches I'm working with. My favorite part about being a teacher is showing other people the light that they might not realize is there, but I can see it, and I like to help them craft that.