Courtney Babin, MAT
What is your role with The Center and what are you most excited about?
I am a Literacy and Learning Specialist at The Center. I am most excited about advancing literacy across the state and nation. It is my passion to change the face of literacy for our students. By educating teachers in the Science of Reading, we will impact the future of students.
What is your background?
I entered the field of education in 2010 as a classroom teacher in central Louisiana. I remained in the classroom for ten years teaching lower elementary students. For three of these years, I was also a mentor teacher. This is where my love for educating adults became evident. In 2020 I accepted a position as a Master Teacher in Rapides Parish. In this position, I led professional learning communities, data team meetings, and coaching meetings. I also spent time in classrooms aiding students and providing feedback to teachers to grow them in their profession. My love for making an impact on students and teachers led me to The Center at the end of 2021 and I couldn’t be more excited.
What is your favorite childhood book or literacy memory?
Thinking back, reading was not an easy skill for me as a child. However, I loved being read aloud to by my family members. I remember my mom reading “Tiny Ptery, Come Home!” by Guy Gilchrist and “Corduroy” by Don Freeman. My mom says she could recite the pages from reading them so much.
Flashback to when you were 10 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Even when I was ten years old, I loved children! At ten years old I wanted to be a nurse that worked in the hospital nursery. While I did attend nursing school for a few years, I quickly realized that my passion was education.
What passion projects do you have outside of work?
A growing passion of mine is photography. I absolutely enjoy capturing moments for families to look back on. My passion for photography came alive about eight years ago after hiring a birth photographer to capture pictures of our son on his ‘birth’ day.