Seymour Teacher Shares Love of Reading

By Brooke Stevenson
brooke@seymourherald.com
    Seymour Middle School Teacher Melissa Brewer takes great pride in passing on the joy of reading to her students.
    Even though Brewer didn’t always know she wanted to be a teacher, she said she wouldn’t trade it for anything now.
    Originally she studied business after high school. It wasn’t until she worked in office that dealt with children who had behavioral and emotional problems that she began thinking about a teaching career.
    In 2003 she received her Masters from the University of Tennessee and she has been teaching at Seymour Middle School ever since.
    “I love it,” she said, “I would never want to be at another school.”
    Brewer currently teaches sixth grade, but has taught seventh and eighth as well in the past.
    “I truly love all the grades, you get such a range of how the students are,” she said.
    Brewer has taught reading since she began teaching, and has developed a true passion for it.
    “When kids come into middle school they start losing that desire and love of reading,” she said. “I always want to try to give them other options, avenues and books to keep them interested.”
    Brewer always reads a novel in class to keep the students interested in reading. The class then focuses on what the author’s point of view is and what their purpose was for writing the novel.
    She believes it is very important to read with the class because it helps the students use their imagination and it attracts them to reading.
    “We are in this world where it is so easy to watch a movie that you don’t need to read,” Brewer said. “You kind of lose that imagery, the imagination to it.”
    The best part about her job is working with her students, she said, “That is just the first hands down thing that I enjoy.
    “I love the people I work with, but I love the kids, working with them being the best reward in itself.”
    Throughout the years Brewer has found herself enjoying teaching more and more.
    “I always try to do new things each year and learn new things,” she said. “It is just a growing thing with me.
    “I wouldn’t want to be anything else.”