GLENDALE, AZ — ABC15's special series following teachers across the Valley continues, this time with a stop in the West Valley to chat with a veteran teacher who still loves being in the classroom even after a quarter-century on the job!
For math teacher Diane Miler, teaching doesn't look quite like it did when she first started back in the 1990s.
"How has teaching changed over the last 25 years?" asked ABC15's Nick Ciletti.
"Technology!" Miller said.
But much like the variables in math equations that are always changing, so is Mrs. Miller, learning to evolve with the times; she says it ultimately benefits her students.
"So when I started teaching, we were using transparencies, writing on the transparencies - and things are different - now all the kids have laptops we are all learning with electronic resources - they have an individualized learning plan, which I think is incredible," she explains.
She may be no stranger to the classroom, but this is Mrs. Miller's first year teaching at Copper Canyon High School in Glendale, part of the Tolleson Union High School District.
"My goal is to form relationships with my students and let them know that I am here to help them, that we are all here to help them be successful."
In between solving for 'x', Mrs. Miller hopes she's able to teach some life lessons as well, including how to pick yourself back up.
"I was telling my Algebra I class the other day that I failed Algebra in high school, and so I said, 'I know this is hard but we can do this,' and it wasn't until I had a teacher sophomore year who finally taught me Algebra and I felt motivated to learn and I started loving it, so one teacher can make all the difference."
