Meet A Catholic School Teacher: Erin Spangler

Name: Erin Spangler

School: St. Anthony of Padua School, Dalhart

Grade You Are Teaching: 6th Grade

Degree Obtained: B.S. in Public Service and Administration in Agriculture from Iowa State University; Teaching Credential from West Texas A&M University, Canyon.

Spouse’s Name: Dr. Conrad Spangler

Children: None

Why do you teach at a Catholic School, compared to a Public School? “I love the atmosphere of respect and the dedication of the staff, students and parents to faith and academics.”

Why are Catholic Schools important? “It is important to give families in a community the option of a Christian based education.”

What is your philosophy when it comes to the classroom? “No two students are alike, so their education should be varied in order to reach them. Each student has a passion and a style of learning that works best for them. My job is to figure out what the student cares about and then how to incorporate that into their learning so they are motivated to learn.”

Hobbies:Traveling the world, reading as much as possible, learning Chinese and playing the piano.

Favorite Television Show(s): College Football, Glee, The Office

Favorite Book(s): I cannot name just one! Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery; Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, The Watchers by Mark Andrew Olsen and anything written by David Brown and John Grisham

If you had chosen another career path, what would it have been? “Teaching is my ‘other’ career path! Before I moved from Iowa to Texas, I was the industry relations manager for the Iowa State Dairy Association for four years. It was a wonderful job where I was the liaison between Iowa’s dairy producers and key decision makers in our state. I planned meetings, developed dairy policy and lobbied at the state level.”

If you were Superintendent for a day, what would you do? “If I were superintendent for a day and had unlimited resources, I would send all students, teachers and staff on a trip to Rome and update all curriculum to the newest versions available.”