Kindergarten Teacher - Language Arts

Hi!  My name is Mrs. Miller.  Welcome to one of St. Michael’s Kindergarten classrooms.

For the first time ever, there are two kindergarten classes at St. Michael School! I'm excited to be teaching all of the Language Arts this year, not only because teaching kindergartners to read is one of my passions, but also because I am thankful that I will get to teach all of the kindergarten students. I am really looking forward to working closely/collaborating with the other kindergarten teacher, Ms. Earhart.

My goal is to help each child in my room gain confidence, do his/her best, grow spiritually, academically, emotionally and personally, and have fun while learning.  In fact, one of my favorite things to hear at the end of the day is, “Mrs. Miller, this was such a fun day!  We didn’t do any work!”  Because, of course, they worked hard all day and learned a lot, but had so much fun that it didn’t seem like work!  The most rewarding part of my calling/job is when a child who has been struggling finally “gets it” and I can almost see the light bulb in their head turn on!

I knew at a very early age that I wanted to be a teacher and would play school in my backyard, making worksheets for my neighborhood friends to complete.  I am a product of Catholic education, having attended Catholic schools for 2nd grade through college.  (My Catholic grade school didn’t have kindergarten or 1st grade.)  I graduated from Xavier University in 1981, and was hired to be the 2nd grade teacher at a small Catholic school in Norwood, Ohio.  After 12 years in 2nd grade and 8 years in 1st, I asked to teach kindergarten and have been there ever since!  The best course that I’ve taken since graduation was to learn the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading.  This was the hardest and most demanding class I’ve ever tackled, but also the most helpful.  The OG method is a highly-structured, phonetic, multisensory approach.  It is a very important part of my Reading/Language Arts instruction.

My husband Jeff and I were married in 1981.  Although we never had children of our own, I’ve always felt that my students were also “my kids,” so I can claim to have over 600 children!  When I’m not teaching, I enjoy fishing with my husband, playing with my dog, gardening, doing crafts and cheering on the Cincinnati Bengals and Xavier Musketeers basketball team.  

When my school, St. Nicholas Academy, closed in 2019 I was devastated.  But, as always, God had a plan, and his plan led me to St. Michael.  At my interview, Mr. Arn took me on a tour of the school and when asked what made St. Michael special, at least one child in each room said, “We’re a family.”  And, they’re right… we ARE a family at SMS!  Thankfully, Mr. Arn offered me a job and I became a member of the special, loving St. Michael family.

Coincidentally, we were Knights at my old school, too, so…

ONCE A KNIGHT, ALWAYS A KNIGHT!