Gina Williams is in her 21st year of teaching and fourth year at Morgan Academy.

She teaches fifth and sixth grade with a mixture of English, grammar, spelling and reading.

“I’ve always liked to write,” Williams said. “Because I love it, it’s easy to teach it. I enjoy teaching writing and grammar.”

Williams said picking the subject she wanted to teach was easy because of her love of reading and writing, and she’s happy to pass that down to her students.

“I do want to leave them with a joy of writing and not that feeling of ‘Oh gosh, I’ve got to write a story,’” Williams said.

Williams graduated from the University of Montevallo with a bachelor degree in elementary and early childhood education before beginning her teaching career. She is married to Rick, and they have two children, McKenzie and Pierce.

“When I was going through school, the best part about working with children was when they got a concept. You could see the light bulb come on,” Williams said. “That made me very excited about teaching. I’ve always since I can remember worked with children. When I was younger, I baby sat and after that I taught in preschool. I just couldn’t imagine not having little children around me.”

Williams said she incorporates different styles of teaching to really engage the students and help them grasp concepts.

“I want to engage them and keep the classroom exciting to keep up with the times. It’s our job as fifth and sixth grade teachers to prepare them for junior high and high school,” Williams said. “We try to use art use it in some of our lessons in hopes that they like to do art activities and that they learn the skill in the process.”

Williams said that she loves teaching and enjoys getting to know her students.

“I’m lucky enough that I get the children two years in a row. I get them for fifth and sixth grade. I almost feel like they belong to me,” she said. “At the end of the year when we have our graduation ceremony for sixth grade, I get a little upset because I feel like they belong to me, and I don’t want to share them.”

Williams said sometimes she’ll have students that she previously taught to come back and ask her for help on an assignment.

“I find that flattering,” Williams said. “I really push their writing, and every now and then I’ll have one come back and ask for help and that’s always very flattering.”