Christa Wilson Neyman is married to Johnny Neyman. They have two children, Allison and Adam and a grandchild, Chloe. Mrs. Neyman attended Cedar Bluff Elementary School and graduated from Cedar Bluff High School in 1976. She received the honors of Salutatorian of the class of 1976, FHA President, Beta Club President, Miss FHA, Co-Head Tigerette on the varsity drill team, and Costa Yearbook Editor. She attended Gadsden State Jr. College where she was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education in 1979 graduating 11th out of 345, "with distinction and special honors" from Jacksonville State University. She has been a member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International since1982. She has held the offices of President, Vice President, and Recording Secretary. She was the Beta Rho News Editor for six years. She is a member of the AEA, NEA, and CCEA. She was a Title I Reading teacher at Cedar Bluff in 1981 and then taught Kindergarten at Gaylesville School from 1981 through 1996. At Cedar Bluff she has taught first grade and is now a kindergarten teacher. She has been awarded Teacher of the year at Gaylesville School in 1987, Cedar Bluff Teacher of the Year in 1999, and Beta Rho Chapter Delta Kappa Gamma Achievement Award. She is a member of the USTA -Rome Tennis association and plays league tennis. Her other hobbies include working on a variety of crafts and sewing.

Philosophy of Education:
"I feel that my role as a teacher is to take each child at his or her present ability level and to lead them to a higher level of achievement. All children do not enter school with the same skills--scholastic or social. These skills must be evaluated through personal observation and academic checklists in order to find their "starting point" in the ladder of learning. We must be able to challenge the students that are ready to climb and nurture the ones that need extra readiness skills. I grew up knowing I wanted to be a teacher. I come from a family of educators including my mother, grandmother, aunts, an uncle and cousins. I even had college classes with my mother-in-law, but at that time she was only my fiancée's mother! My mother, Mary Frances Wilson, taught Home Economics in Cherokee County for thirty years. I look back with fond memories of going to school with her as a child. I remember special sleep-ins in her department with her "big girls." I helped her do inventory each year. I thought it was grand to have five kitchens! She was a dedicated teacher. Since her death in 1987, many of her former students have told me how special she was to them as a teacher and friend. Recently I learned that someone had named their daughter Christa Jean after me because they loved my mother so much. It means a lot to know her life's work still lives on in her students. My twelve years as a student in Cedar Bluff School were filled with teachers that took that "extra step" to make school interesting and fun. As a principal, L.D. Bruce was a man that drew the respect of all who met him. He always had a special way of dropping into your classroom and getting you to think about some grand scheme of things in life or just to answer a simple question. He always challenged you to use your thinking skills. Coach Bruce was there for his teachers as well as his students. I found this to be true as I came back to Cedar Bluff as a first year teacher. Miss Lena Sue Neely, my first grade teacher, taught us the regular first grade material along with fun things like how to knit. She was a special teacher I will never forget. Many other teachers throughout my school career have earned a special place in my heart. I try to follow their footsteps and teach with respect, love and understanding. But most of all, my greatest desire for all my students is to have fun while learning. I owe thanks to my family and these other outstanding teachers for instilling in me the desire to teach. I had the early learning experiences as child that helped me decide to become a teacher. As education enters into a new millennium, we will face new trends, problems and issues. We can only predict what these will be. Without a doubt, test scores, violence in schools, and technological advancements will continue to be key issues educators throughout the country will face. I have personally seen rapid growth of technological advancements in the classroom. As a first year teacher, my classroom was not much different from those I occupied as a child. We had a black and white television that was hooked up to an antenna to watch Sesame Street. If the wind blew hard, our wonderful janitor would have to climb upon the roof to turn the antenna back so we could pick up channel seven. We used mainly records with only a few cassette tapes for sing-a-longs. I had my own upright piano that I played. When my class purchased an Apple IIe computer with a color monitor in 1986, we thought life could not get any better! We later purchased a printer and enjoyed making signs and banners for our classroom and for others in the school. We used many "floppy disk" games to learn letters and numbers. It was great to be in a class with so many advancements. Later, talk of the Internet drifted throughout the school. It was met with some reluctance--we would never have much chance to use it because it would just be in the library. We dared not believe them when they told us that soon we would feel comfortable surfing the net! Over 20 years have passed and I am now in a new classroom complete with a cable hookup, a color television, and a VCR! We use cassette tapes and compact discs. Now the children don't recognize the record player and laugh at those big CD's! The piano I play now is an electric keyboard. We can even speak to the office with just a press of a button on the wall. The two computers in our classroom are connected to the Internet. We have even written letters to Santa on-line and received his reply. We have sent electronic greeting cards to our principal, friends and even our families with Internet connections at home. We have watched the weather, visited foreign countries and even Sesame Street, all without ever leaving our room. This age of technology has allowed us to change the way we keep our monthly attendance records and track student achievement. The office can locate a student with the click of a button. It has opened new routes for making lesson plans. It has enabled students to find unlimited information for research and leisure. We must use these resources effectively in order to be able to teach them to our students. The possibilities are endless. I thoroughly enjoy teaching. Kindergarten children are a blessing to be with each day. They can change a dreary day to sunshine with sincerity and creativity that is sometimes lost in later years. I often think back to a question that one of my students asked as she was lovingly hanging onto my hand, "Mrs. Neyman, do you work anywhere?" Yes, Amy, I do, and I love my job.

Philosophy of Education:
"I chose to go into education because of my love for children. Being around children can be such a joyful and rewarding experience. It is such a good feeling to see how much a child can learn throughout the year, and know that you had a part in it. To me, education is learning and training process that is continuous throughout the years. The early years of a child's life are the most important, so as a Kindergarten teacher I look upon my job as a challenge. My goal is to prepare the child socially, emotionally, and intellectually. The first step is to provide a relaxed atmosphere where the child will feel safe and secure in a group situation. If the child feels safe and secure, he /she can better deal with the emotional aspect of being separated from the parents. Then we prepare them intellectually. I think children should have every opportunity to learn at a rate that is suitable for them. Children are at different developmental levels, and I believe instruction should be individualized. I try to provide an atmosphere that is relaxing, yet structured enough so the children know their limits. I believe a good learning environment is a disciplined environment. In the past 21 years I have seen many changes in education. Religion, that was once part of school experience, has been removed, and I believe that has caused a breakdown in our social and moral values. I once saw a school as a place where children knew they would be safe. But today we have to have safety precautions. Today's educational system teaches much more at an earlier age. Technology has advanced our system. But one thing remains the same. It takes administrators, teachers, parents, and communities working together to make a school the best it can be."