When Beth Ashmore teaches her second-grade students how to read, they learn more than words on a page and characters in a story.

"I teach them how to find joy in understanding and the treasure of discovering a friend or interesting fact in the pages of a book," she says. "Reading is important to me because I know my students will be successful in whatever journey life holds for them if they can read."

When she began studying for her degree in elementary education, Beth did not set out with the goal of becoming a reading educator. But during her course of undergraduate and graduate studies she discovered she had a passion for teaching children how to experience the wonder of reading.

"I truly found joy in teaching reading in my undergrad reading classes with Dr. Woods. She was an inspiring professor. Not a school day goes by when I do not remember what she taught me about effective reading instruction, and implement it in my classroom. If in the future I could help another teacher develop a love for teaching reading that would impact student achievement like Dr. Woods did for me, I would feel accomplished."

For Beth, teaching runs in the family. She was raised in a family of educators who placed a high value on education.

"From my strong family values, and passionate teachers placed along my way, I was blessed to discover my own passion for teaching," she says. "What I enjoy most about teaching is the bond formed over the course of a school year between my students and myself in our classroom. As we learn and laugh together we create a different kind of learning that can never be found in a text book and reaches far beyond our 180 days of the school year."
When asked what advice she would offer to students considering a teaching career, Beth says, "A good teacher is like a candle. It consumes itself to light the way for others."