Name of staff member: Leslie Hoffman

Position in USD #435: First Grade Teacher

Years in this position: 6 years, 30th year as an educator in Abilene.

Previous teaching experience: Special Education, Reading Specialist, Kindergarten Teacher, and Library Media Specialist.

Hometown: The world. My father is a Veteran of the Air Force and as his daughter, I grew up in Salina, Montana, Nebraska, Japan, Hawaii, and California. My family returned to Salina my sophomore year of high school, where I lived until I graduated from Salina South.

What inspired you to go into education? My mother was a Special Education Paraprofessional and I was an aide in the Special Education classroom at my high school. I found that I really liked helping others learn, especially those that others said couldn’t. Another inspiration for me was my high school history teacher, Mr. Floyd Gwin. Mr. Gwin treated his students with respect and held high expectations for each of us. He really loved what he was teaching, who he was teaching, and as a result, his students loved learning. Oh, and my high school counselor recommended I skip college and go into the “service industry”; probably the biggest inspiration.

What brought you to Abilene? Employment!

A memorable teaching moment: There are just so many, it’s difficult to single out one moment.

However, my daughter’s most memorable moment ( of which she reminds me with great regularity) was being present during a “class meeting” on the last day of school as each of us shared our most favorite thing about the year.

After tales of field trips, field days, recesses, and friends, one of my student’s commented “ My favorite thing about first grade was Mrs. Hoffman. She learned us good!”

Yep, keeps me humble...