A 'Tallent' for teaching

For Andrea Tallent, Bobby Ray Memorial Elementary was already a special place long before she became a teacher there.

Now in her eighth year in the classroom, Tallent has been named Week 4’s First National Bank Teacher of the Week by readers of the Main Street Journal. The Bobby Ray third-grade teacher received 40 of the 289 votes cast in this week’s contest.

Tallent teaches third-grade math and reading small groups for each of Bobby Ray’s three third-grade classes. She also recently became site coordinator for the school’s 21st Century after-school program after spending the previous four years as an instructor with the program.

Her road to becoming a teacher came after starting a family.

A Warren County native and 1996 graduate of Warren County High School, Tallent decided after the birth of her second child to stay home with her children and return to school herself to earn a teaching degree. She began through the 2+2 program at Motlow State Community College’s McMinnville campus before transferring to Tennessee Tech.

By then, Bobby Ray was already very familiar territory. Both of her sons, Alex and Aaron, attended the school from pre-K through fifth grade.

“I had always been involved with the school through PTO and substituting and knew this was where I wanted to be,” Tallent said.

When she began teaching eight years ago, Bobby Ray became her professional home as well. She has spent all eight years teaching third grade at the school.

Tallent can also trace part of her desire to teach back to her own elementary school days and one teacher in particular - Eva Seals, her first-grade teacher at West Elementary.

“She always made learning fun,” Tallent said.

That same opportunity to help children discover and understand something new remains at the heart of what Tallent enjoys about the profession.

“The most rewarding part of being a teacher is getting to watch kids learning new things and being part of their success,” she said.

Tallent is the second consecutive Bobby Ray teacher to win the weekly honor. Rachel Grissom, a second-grade teacher at the school, was selected as Week 3’s First National Bank Teacher of the Week.

The First National Bank Teacher of the Week is selected each week through voting by MSJ readers. Voting opens each Tuesday at midnight and continues through 11:59 p.m. Monday, with readers allowed to vote once per hour using an email address. Weekly winners are removed from subsequent ballots and will be eligible for Teacher of the Year honors in the spring.

The Teacher of the Week program is presented by First National Bank of Middle Tennessee, with support from Smooth Rapids, Diamond Jewelry Company, Phillips Sales and Service and Graves Family Pharmacy.

Voting for the next Teacher of the Week can be found here: