This week our Meet Our Team Monday post is brought to you courtesy of Manchester Elementary School's student newspaper, The Shiner Times. Carley Richardson, 5th grade student at Manchester Elementary and contributor to the school newspaper, recently published an article on Mr. Tony Nalley who teaches 6th Grade at Manchester Elementary. Mr. Nalley has a passion for teaching and especially for inspiring his students to read. Learn more about Mr. Nalley in Carley's article, below:

Standing taller than the chalk board and looking like presidential favorite Abe Lincoln without his hat, Mr. Nalley has even higher expectations for his 6th grade students. One of Mr. Nalley's goals as a teacher is to see his sixth graders improve at least one reading level in his class. One way he does this is by reading to his students. Mr. Nalley says: “I think it is important to read to my students, because they can see that adults, even males like to read. Furthermore, reading to students helps to increase their listening comprehension.” He feels that sixth grade is one of the last chances to get students to enjoy reading. His classes read high interest novels, and he teaches his students to make a movie in their head as they read.

Mr. Nalley has been a teacher for 20 years, teaching sixth grade for 18. He says he enjoys his job, but each year brings new challenges. Even though he loves his job, there are things he doesn’t like about it - like all of the nonsense the politicians place upon teachers and students. Mr. Nalley's favorite time of the year is December when he gets to teach his students about holiday traditions from around the world. When not teaching, Mr. Nalley likes to go to the gym, watch superhero movies (Iron Man is his favorite), do things with friends, and read, read, read!