Paris ISD Names Teachers Of The Year

Chonda Hicks was named Elementary Teacher of the Year, and Amanda LaRue was named Secondary Teacher of the Year for the Paris Independent School District at a dinner recently honoring teaching excellence. Both will represent Paris ISD in the 2023 Region VIII Education Service Center Teacher of the Year competition.

Hicks holds a Bachelor of Science in Education with a certification in Early Childhood – fourth grade from Texas A&M University in Commerce. She started her journey in education with Paris ISD in 2006 and is presently a Fourth Grade teacher at Justiss Elementary.

She began teaching third grade at Justiss Elementary in the same room she was in as a third grader. After teaching third grade, Hicks received the opportunity to be self-contained, teaching the Gifted and Talented class in first grade. After two years in first grade, she moved to her present position as a fourth-grade teacher. Hicks dedicates herself to her students and school. She has high expectations of her students and is one of their biggest champions. Hicks shows her students grace and believes that each day is a new opportunity for her students to be better than the day before. Paris Independent School District has given Hicks the gift of teaching for fifteen years; for this, she is most appreciative and grateful.

LaRue holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Texas A&M University in Commerce. She started her journey with Paris ISD in 2009 as a Paraprofessional and taught Algebra 1 at Paris High School.

LaRue has ten years of teaching experience, with eight of those years at Paris High School. LaRue has served as the head of the math department for seven years. She started her journey in education as a custodian and then as a paraprofessional, working in content mastery for five years. She takes great pride in her time as a paraprofessional and believes that it has given her a deeper understanding of what it takes to educate someone and life in general. LaRue believes in the importance of mistakes.
Students are encouraged to find their own mistakes made by their peers and teacher. Recognizing, reinforcing, correcting, and rewarding students when they make mistakes has transformed LaRue’s classroom.