'Meet the Teacher,' Katie DeGan '05

November 6, 2009

November 6, 2009, Greencastle, Ind. — Katie DeGan, a fourth grade teacher at Prairie Trace Elementary School in Carmel, Indiana, and 2005 graduate of DePauw University, tells the Indianapolis Star, "I want my students to love to learn. I want them to be inquisitive and comfortable enough in my classroom to ask questions and take risks. When they leave me at the end of the school year, I want them to walk away knowing they learned to be better students and better people because they took advantage of every opportunity presented to them."

Featured in the newspaper's "Meet the Teacher" column, DeGan tells of how she became inspired to teach. "As an elementary student I was gifted, but lazy and disorganized. My teacher, Mrs. Mosbaugh, was the teacher of the gifted and talented class, and she continued to have high expectations of me even when I did not. When I got to middle school, I realized how right she was every time she tried to convince me to change my ways. Because of her, I knew how to succeed. I became a teacher to help children realize their potential and succeed in ways they didn't know they could."

DeGan, who majored in elementary education at DePauw and is working toward her master's degree at Ball State University, advises parents, "Read, read, read. Read aloud together, have your child read to you or have your child read to the dog. Do anything to get them reading."

Access the complete piece at IndyStar.com.

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