Teacher Spotlight: Hannah Faulkner

Name: Hannah Faulkner (formerly Lewin)

Grade: First

Your background:

I have a Bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders from Southern Connecticut State University and a Master's degree in Elementary Education from The University of New Haven. I worked as a paraprofessional and as a reading interventionist in other districts before beginning my teaching career at Marvin. This is my third year here!

What do you love about teaching 1st grade?

I love teaching first grade because of how much growth you see throughout the year. It is amazing to watch first graders become readers, writers, and mathematicians!

Teachers are the frontline workers for our children in this pandemic. What has been your biggest challenge or adjustment this year?

The biggest adjustment for me this year has been teaching/managing both in-person and remote students at the same time. I wish I could clone myself! Even though it has been challenging, I could not ask for a better group of students/families to work with this year. I am also thankful for my amazing first grade team! I couldn’t do it without them.

What is your biggest motivation this year and what are you most proud of?

My students are my biggest motivation 😊❤️! They keep me going. I am most proud of how resilient and patient they have been throughout a difficult year.

Why did you become a teacher?

I always knew I wanted a job helping people. I was inspired to become a teacher by many of my own teachers, especially my second/third grade teacher who I looped with and still keep up with today, Mrs. D.

A fun fact about you!

I come from a big lacrosse family and still love to play for fun today. Some people might be surprised to learn that I played goalie in high school!

Thank you, Mrs. Faulkner, for ALL you do for our Marvin students!

What we love about Mrs. Faulkner!

"My two children were lucky to have Mrs. Faulkner for first grade. Mrs. Faulkner was amazing at guiding and motivating them in their learning. My children loved the reading library where they would take out books every day and read about different subjects. Mrs. Faulkner worked with their individual reading styles and built upon them." - Tracy Lagervall, Marvin parent

"Mrs. Faulkner is great at teaching numbers. I always liked the counting games we played to learn about math." - Jack Lagervall, former student

“Even though she is the youngest member of the first grade teacher group, she impressed me with her confidence and knowledge in the classroom!” – Diana Baumgarte, Marvin parent

“Mrs. Faulkner is a nice teacher. And she is a fair teacher!” Roland Marginean, former student and current Marvin 2nd grader